diff options
Diffstat (limited to '42129-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42129-0.txt | 12348 |
1 files changed, 12348 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42129-0.txt b/42129-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62a3130 --- /dev/null +++ b/42129-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12348 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42129 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://archive.org/details/hermajestysmails00lewiuoft + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as + faithfully as possible, including non-standard spelling + and inconsistent hyphenation. Some changes of spelling + and punctuation have been made. They are listed at the + end of the text. + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + OE ligatures have been converted to "oe." + + + + + +HER MAJESTY'S MAILS: + +An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-Office. +Together with an Appendix. + +by + +WILLIAM LEWINS. + + "OUR ENGLISH POST-OFFICE IS A SPLENDID TRIUMPH + OF CIVILIZATION."--_Lord Macaulay._ + + + + + + + +London: +Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, +14, Ludgate Hill. +1864. + +London: +R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers, +Bread Street Hill. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This volume is the first of a contemplated series designed to furnish +some account of the history and ordinary working of the revenue +departments of the country--to do for the great _Governmental_ +industries what Mr. Smiles has so ably done (to compare his great things +with our small) for the profession of civil engineering and several +_national_ industries. Few attempts have ever been made to trace the +rise and progress of the invaluable institution of the Post-Office. We +have more than once seen the question asked in _Notes and Queries_--that +_sine quâ non_ of the curious and the learned--where a continuous +account might be found of English postal history. In each case, the +inquirer has been referred to a short summary of the history of the +Post-Office, prefixed to the Postmaster-General's _First Report_. Since +that, the Messrs. Black, in the eighth edition of the _Encyclopædia +Britannica_, have supplied an excellent and more extended notice. Still +more recently, however, in an admirable paper on the Post-Office in +_Fraser's Magazine_, Mr. Matthew D. Hill has expressed his astonishment +that so little study has been given to the subject--that it "has +attracted the attention of so small a number of students, and of each, +as it would appear, for so short a time." "I have not been able to +find," adds Mr. Hill, "that even Germany has produced a single work +which affects to furnish more than a sketch or outline of postal +history." The first part of the following pages is offered as a +_contribution_ to the study of the subject, in the hope that it will be +allowed to fill the vacant place, at any rate, until the work is done +more worthily. With regard to that most interesting episode in the +history of the Post-Office which resulted in the penny-post reform, the +materials for our work--scanty though they undoubtedly are in the +earlier periods--are here sufficiently abundant. The scope, however, +of the present undertaking would not allow of much more than a +proportionate amount of space being devoted to that epoch. Besides, the +history of that eventful struggle can be properly told but by one hand, +and that hand, if spared, intends, we believe, to tell his own story. +Mr. Torrens MacCullagh, in his _Life of Sir James Graham_, has thrown +much new light on the letter-opening transactions of 1844, and we have +been led, on inquiry, to concur in many of his views on the subject. + +The greater portion of the second division of this volume, as well as a +portion of the first part, appeared originally in the pages of several +popular serial publications--principally _Chambers's Journal_ and Mr. +Chambers's _Book of Days_; the whole, however, has been thoroughly +revised, where it has not been re-written, and otherwise adapted to the +purposes of the present work. We are indebted to Mr. Robert Chambers, +LL.D., not only for permitting the republication of these papers in this +form, but also for kindly indicating to us sources of information from +the rich storehouse of his experience, which we have found very useful. +On collateral subjects, such as roads and conveyances, besides having, +in common with other readers, the benefit of Mr. Smiles's valuable +researches in his _Lives of the Engineers_, we are personally indebted +to him for kindly advice. We have only to add that, while in no sense an +authorized publication, personal acquaintance has been brought to bear +on the treatment of different parts of it, and that we have received, in +describing the various branches of the Post-Office, much valuable +information from Mr. J. Bowker and several gentlemen connected with the +London Establishment. It is hoped that the information, now for +the first time brought together, may prove interesting to many +letter-writers who are ignorant, though not willingly so, of the +channels through which their correspondence flows. If our readers think +that the Wise Man was right when he likened the receipt of pleasant +intelligence from a far country to cold water given to a thirsty soul, +surely they will also admit that the _agency_ employed to compass this +good service, which has made its influence felt in every social circle, +and which has brought manifold blessings in its train, deserves some +passing thought and attention. + +The Appendix is designed to afford a source of general reference on many +important matters relating to the Post-Office, some parts of it having +been carefully collated from Parliamentary documents not easily +accessible to the public. + +_April 16, 1864._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PART I. + + HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + + CHAPTER I. + PAGE + INTRODUCTORY 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE RISE OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE 15 + + + CHAPTER III. + + ON OLD ROADS AND SLOW COACHES 37 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 47 + + + CHAPTER V. + + PALMER AND THE MAIL-COACH ERA 73 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE 94 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + SIR ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE 108 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + EARLY RESULTS OF THE PENNY-POSTAGE SCHEME 132 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE POST-OFFICE AND LETTER-OPENING 150 + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 165 + + + PART II. + + DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + PREFATORY 186 + + + CHAPTER I. + + THE ORGANIZATION OF THE POST-OFFICE 187 + + + CHAPTER II. + + ON THE CIRCULATION OF LETTERS 199 + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE MAIL-PACKET SERVICE 245 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + ON POSTAGE-STAMPS 255 + + + CHAPTER V. + + POST-OFFICE SAVINGS' BANKS 268 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + BEING MISCELLANEOUS AND SUGGESTIVE 279 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + CONCERNING SOME OF THE POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS + AND MISREPRESENTATIONS TO WHICH THE POST-OFFICE + IS LIABLE 291 + + + APPENDIX (A). + + CHIEF OFFICERS OF THE POST-OFFICE 308 + + + APPENDIX (B). + + ABSTRACT OF THE PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS 309 + + + APPENDIX (C). + + INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE APPOINTMENTS IN + THE POST-OFFICE SERVICE 330 + + + APPENDIX (D). + + APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICE IN LONDON 333 + + PRINCIPAL APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICES OF + DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH 336 + + APPOINTMENTS, WITH SALARIES, OF THE FIVE PRINCIPAL + PROVINCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN ENGLAND + AND SCOTLAND 337 + + INFORMATION RESPECTING OTHER PRINCIPAL PROVINCIAL + POST-OFFICES 340 + + + APPENDIX (E). + + SALE OF POSTAGE-STAMPS 341 + + + APPENDIX (F). + + CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY RAILWAY 342 + + + APPENDIX (G). + + MANUFACTURE OF POSTAGE-LABELS AND ENVELOPES 344 + + + APPENDIX (H). + + RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM 345 + + + + +PART I. + +HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + + + +HER MAJESTY'S MAILS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +Circular letters, and a kind of post for conveying them, are frequently +mentioned both in sacred and profane history. Queen Jezebel is +remarkable as being the first letter-writer on record, though it is not +surprising to find that she used her pen for purposes of deception. +According to the sacred chronicler, she "wrote letters in Ahab's name, +and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and +to the nobles in the city." From the Book of Esther we learn that +Ahasuerus, king of Persia, being displeased at the disobedience of his +wife, Vashti, sent letters into every province of his vast empire, +informing his subjects that it was his imperial will that "every man +should bear rule in his own house." The first recorded _riding post_ was +established in the Persian empire by Cyrus, who, when engaged in his +Scythian expedition, in order to have news brought expeditiously, +"caused it to be tried how far a horse could go in a day without +baiting, and, at that distance, appointed stages and men whose business +it was to have horses always in readiness."[1] Another authority[2] +tells us that there were one hundred and eleven postal stages, a day's +journey distant from one another, between Susa and the Ægean Sea, and +that at each stage a large and beautiful structure was erected, with +every convenience for the purpose designed. + +It is certainly remarkable that neither in this nor in any other +recorded instance have the posts in ancient times developed into one for +the conveyance of private correspondence. It is certain that the Greeks +and Romans, even when at the height of their civilization, had no +regular public post. There are some traces of _statores_ and _stationes_ +under the Roman Republic; and Augustus, we find, instituted posts on the +principal trunk-roads, for the use of the Imperial Government. He also +established a class of mounted messengers, called _tabellarii_, who went +in charge of the despatches. That these messengers should have been +strictly forbidden to convey letters for private persons, or that no +provision was subsequently made for that purpose, is the more wonderful, +when we consider the high character of the nations themselves, and the +fact, often pointed out, that the progress of civilization has always +been intimately and essentially connected with, and dependent upon, +facilities for intercommunication--keeping pace, in fact, with the means +which nations possessed for the interchange of person and property, and +with them of thought and knowledge. That those nations to which we are +so greatly indebted for so much that exalts the intellect and adorns +life, should not have left us an example of such a useful and +(considering the vast extent of their respective territories), we should +have thought, indispensable institution as that of a public letter-post, +is marvellous. + +Marco Polo, the famous Venetian, who travelled in China in the +fourteenth century,[3] describes the government post as similar to that +in use in Persia under Cyrus. The posts had existed in China from the +earliest times. Every twenty-five miles there were posts, called +_jambs_, where the imperial envoy was received. There were frequently +as many as three or four hundred horses in waiting at one of these +places. Polo further states that there were ten thousand stations of +this kind in China, some of them affording sumptuous accommodation to +travellers. Two hundred thousand horses are said to have been engaged in +the service. The fact affords a curious commentary on the progress of +civilization in the Celestial Empire, that, though this gigantic and +elaborate establishment has been in existence so long and up to the +present century, it is only within the last few years that provision has +been made in China for public letter-posts. + +The earliest date in modern history at which any postal service is +mentioned, is the year 807, when an organization was planned by the +Emperor Charlemagne. The service, however, did not survive him. The +first regular European letter-post was established in the Hanse Towns in +the early part of the thirteenth century. This federation of republics +required constant communication with each other; for, being largely +engaged in similar commercial pursuits, it became indispensable to their +existence that some system of letter-conveyance should be originated. +The next establishment was a line of letter-posts connecting Austria +with Lombardy, in the reign of the Emperor Maximilian, said to have been +organized by the princes of the house of Thurn and Taxis. The +representatives of the same house established another line of posts from +Vienna to Brussels, thus further connecting the most distant parts of +the vast dominions of the Spanish Emperor, Charles V. It may be +mentioned here, that the Counts of Thurn and Taxis have, in virtue of +their original establishment, which they controlled from the first, +always held peculiar rights and privileges in relation to the postal +systems of Germany; and up to this day the posts of the house of Thurn +and Taxis are entirely distinct from the existing Crown establishments, +and, in fact, are maintained in rivalry to those of some of the German +states. In France, in the fifteenth century, Louis XI. revived the +system of Charlemagne, organizing a body of 230 couriers for purposes +of state. + +We may gather from the existing materials, scanty though they be, +something like a continuous account of the early history of the English +post-office, tracing, very clearly, its progress from the fifteenth +century to its present position. + +While the _general post_ dates from the Stuarts, the establishment of a +regular _riding post_ in England owes its origin to Edward IV. The +English post seems from the first to have been fully commensurate with +the demands for its service, its growth depending on the gradual advance +which the country made in other measures of social progress. Four or +five centuries ago, few private persons could either read or write. On +the other hand, the business of the State demanded correspondence. The +king had his barons to summon, or his sheriffs to instruct, and letters +of writ were issued accordingly, a few Government messengers supplying +all the wants of the time. Now and then the nobles would require to +address each other, and sometimes to correspond with their dependents, +but, as a general rule, neither the serf nor his master had the power, +even if they had the will, to engage much in writing. As time wore on, +and we come nearer the age of the Tudors, the desire for learning +spread, though still the few who engaged in literary or scientific +pursuits were either attached to the Court or to the monastic +establishments. Even when the Tudor dynasty came in, trade with foreign +countries, and remote districts in our own country, was almost equally +unknown. Each district dwelt alone, supplied its own wants, and evinced +very little desire for any closer communication. + +In the earliest times in England, and prior to the first regular horse +posts, both public and private letters were sent by private messengers, +travelling when required. In the reign of Henry I. messengers were first +permanently employed by the king. So early as the reign of King John the +payments to _Nuncii_--as these messengers were now called--for the +conveyance of Government despatches, are to be found entered in the +_Close_ and _Misæ Rolls_, "and the entries of these payments may be +traced in an almost unbroken series through the records of many +subsequent reigns." Nuncii were also attached to the establishments of +the principal barons of the time, and communications passed between them +by means of those functionaries. In the reign of Henry III., the son and +successor of King John, these messengers began to wear the royal livery. +At first it was necessary for them to keep horses of their own, or use +those belonging to the royal or baronial mansion. In the reign of Edward +I. we find that fixed stations or _posts_ were established, at which +places horses were kept for hire, the _Nuncii_ ceasing to provide horses +of their own, or borrowing from private individuals. Several private +letters are in existence, dating as far back as the reign of Edward II., +which bear the appearance of having been carried by the _Nuncii_ of that +period, with "Haste, post, haste!" written on the backs of them. + +With the machinery thus ready to his hand, the improvements contrived by +Edward IV. were easily accomplished. In 1481 this monarch was engaged in +war with Scotland, when, in order to facilitate the transmission of news +from the English capital, he ordered a continuous system of posts, +consisting of _relays_ of horses and messengers every twenty miles. By +this arrangement, despatches were conveyed to him at the English camp +with marvellous expedition, his couriers riding at an average rate of +seventy miles a day. When peace was restored, the system of relays was +allowed to fall into disuse, only to be revived in cases of urgency. +Little improvement in communication could be expected under such a +course of procedure, and little was effected. Henry VIII. was the first +monarch who endeavoured to keep the posts in a state of efficiency, and +improve their organization, in peace as well as in war; though still it +is noticeable that the post stages are kept up purely and exclusively as +a convenience to the Government for the conveyance of its despatches. + +Henry VIII. instituted the office of "Master of the Postes,"[4] with +entire control of the department. During the king's lifetime the office +was filled by one Brian Tuke, afterwards Sir Brian. We gain some insight +into the duties of the office, and also into the manner in which the +work is done, from the following letter (found in the voluminous +correspondence of Thomas Cromwell) from the "Master of the Postes," no +doubt in exculpation of himself and his arrangements, which seem to have +been in some way called in question by the Lord Privy Seal. "The Kinge's +Grace hath no moo ordinary postes, ne of many days hathe had, but +betwene London and Calais. For, sir, ye knowe well, that, except the +hackney horses betwene Gravesende and Dovour, there is no suche usual +conveyance in post for men in this realme as in the accustomed places of +France and other _parties_; _ne men can keepe horses in redynes without +som way to bere the charges_; but when placardes be sent for such cause, +(viz. to order the immediate forwarding of some state packet,) the +constables many tymes be fayne to take horses oute of plowes and cartes, +_wherein can be no extreme diligence_." The king's worthy secretary thus +charges the postmaster with remissness, and the mails with tardiness, +when the facts, as gathered from the above letter, show that the +Government had not gone to the trouble and expense of providing proper +auxiliaries, as in France; _ergo_, they could not expect the same +regularity and despatch. Master Tuke then defends the character of his +men. "As to the postes betwene London and the Courte, there be now but +2; whereof the _on_ is a good robust felowe, and wont to be diligent, +evil intreated meny times, he and other postes, by the herbigeours, for +lack of horse rome or horse mete, _withoute which diligence cannot be_. +The other hathe been a most payneful felowe in nyght and daye, that I +have knowen amongst the messengers. If he nowe _slak_ he shalbe changed +as reason is." + +During the insurrection in the Northern Counties in the reign of Henry +VIII., the rebel leaders, in order to insure a rapid transmission of +orders, established regular posts from Hull to York, York to Durham, and +Durham to Newcastle.[5] + +The council of Edward VI. finding that a great many irregularities +existed in the hire of post-horses, had an Act passed (2 & 3 Edward VI. +c. 3) fixing the charge at a penny per mile for all horses so impressed. + +Up to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, no further improvements +seem to have been made, although her council took steps to make the +existing service as efficient as possible, by reforming some abuses +which had crept into it during Queen Mary's reign. Before Elizabeth's +death, the expenses of the post were reduced to rather less than +5,000_l._ per annum. Before the reduction, the sum charged for conveying +Her Majesty's despatches from stage to stage was enormous. Up to the +thirty-first year of her reign, a rate of 20_d._ a letter was levied by +the proprietors of the post-horses, for _every post travelled over_. The +council resolved to pay the proprietors 3_s._ a day for the service, +irrespective of the distance travelled. The payment was reduced to 2_s._ +and ultimately to 18_d._ a day. Much information respecting the +service--the different stages, the routes taken at this early period, +&c. &c. has been found in old records of the "Master of the Postes," +exhumed some twenty years ago from the vaults of Somerset House. This +functionary, it would appear, paid all current expenses appertaining to +his department, "the wages and entertainment of the ordinary posts," and +he was reimbursed in full under the grant "for conveyance of Her +Highness's letters and her Council's." The information respecting the +routes taken is especially interesting, because it serves to show +that even at this early period arrangements were made with great +circumspection, and that some of these early routes existed, with only +trifling modifications, down to the present century, and to the time of +railroads. The route from London to Berwick is shown by the lists of +posts (or stages) laid down between the two places in the fifteenth year +of Queen Elizabeth's reign. They run as follows:--1. London; 2. Waltham; +3. Ware; 4. Royston; 5. Caxton; 6. Huntingdon; 7. Stilton; 8. Stamford; +9. Grantham; 10. Newark; 11. Tookesford (Tuxford); 12. Foroby (Ferriby); +13. Doncaster; 14. Ferry Bridge; 15. Wetherby; 16. Bouroughbridge; 17. +Northallerton; 18. Derneton (Darlington); 19. Durham; 20. Newcastle; 21. +Morpeth; 22. Hexham; 23. Hawtwistle; 24. Carlisle; 25. Alnwick; 26. +Belford; 27. Berwick. For three centuries, therefore, the High North +Road took in all these posts with the exception of Tuxford. A +considerable diversion, it will be noticed, was made at Morpeth towards +the west, in order to take in the then important towns of Hexham and +Carlisle; but it is more probable that the direct post-road continued +north through Alnwick to Berwick, and that the west road was only a kind +of cross-post. There were no less than three post routes to Ireland in +this reign, and all of them were used more or less. The first and most +important, perhaps, left London and took the following towns in its way; +the distance between each town constituting a "stage;" viz. Dunstable, +Dayntry (Daventry), Collsill (Coleshill), Stone, Chester and Liverpool, +from which latter place a packet sailed. The remaining two mails took +slightly different routes to _Holyhead_, whence also a packet sailed for +Ireland. We find there were also _two_ posts between London and Bristol +and the west of England; the first going by way of Maidenhead, Newbury, +Marlborough and Chippenham; the other, by Hounslow, Maidenhead, Reading, +Marlborough, Maxfield to Bristol. To Dover there were also _two_ posts; +the one passing through Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester, Sittingbourne, +Canterbury, Margate and Sandwich; the other passing through Canterbury +direct, without calling at the two last-named places. The posts above +enumerated were called the "ordinary" posts, and may be supposed to have +been the permanent arrangements for the transmission of the Government +despatches. When these posts did not avail--and it must be understood +that they were never allowed to make a _détour_ into the cross-roads of +the country--"extraordinary posts" were established. Generally speaking, +these extra posts were put on for any service which required the +greatest possible haste. Here is an extract from the records of which we +have spoken, on this point. "Thomas Miller, gent. sent in haste by +special commandment of Sir Francis Walsingham, throughout all the postes +of Kent to warn and to order, both with the posts for an augmentation of +the ordinary number of horses for the packet, and with the countries +near them for a supply of twenty or thirty horses a-piece for the +'throughe posts,' during the service against the Spanish navy by sea, +and the continuance of the army by land." Again, in 31st Elizabeth, +special or "extraordinary" posts were laid between London and Rye, upon +unwelcome news arriving from France, "and for the more speedy +advertisement of the same." "Thomas Miller, gent. sent at Easter, 1597, +to lay the posts and _likest_ landing places either in Kent or Sussex, +upon intelligence given of some practices intended against the Queen's +person." Mr. Miller seems to have judged Rye to be the "likest landing +place" for the purpose, and, returning, "received seven pound for his +services." Other extraordinary posts were often laid down between +Hampton Court and Southampton and Portsmouth, for the "more speedy +advertisement" of occurrences from the ports of Normandy and Bretaigne. + +In the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, disputes were frequent +with the foreign merchants resident in London with regard to the foreign +post, which, up to this reign they had been allowed to manage among +themselves. In 1558, the Queen's Council of State issued a proclamation +"for the redresse of disorders in postes which conveye and bring to and +out of the parts beyond the seas, pacquets of letters." It would seem +that soon after the arrival of the Flemings in this country, in the +previous century, they established a post-office of their own, between +London and the Continent, appointing one of themselves as postmaster, by +the sufferance and favour of the reigning sovereign. "Afterwards," says +Stowe,[6] "by long custom, they pretended a right to appoint a master of +the _Strangers' Post_, and that they were in possession of from the year +1514." This continued till 1558, in which year the foreign merchants +fell out among themselves over the question of appointing a postmaster. +The Flemings, aided by the Spanish ambassador, chose one Raphael Vanden +Putte; the Italians, by this time a considerable body of foreigners, +chose one of their number for the vacant place. Not being able to agree, +the disputants referred their case to the English Council, when, to the +surprise of the foreigners, their right to appoint at all was publicly +disputed. The English merchants took up the matter very warmly, and +addressed the Privy Council in two or three petitions. They took the +opportunity to complain that the authorities of the foreign post had +frequently acted unfairly to them, in keeping back their continental +letters, and so giving the foreigners the advantage of the markets. In +one of the petitions, they urged, "that it is one of the chief points of +the prerogative belonging to all princes, to place within their +dominions such officers as were most trusty of their own subjects; that +the postmaster's place was one of great trust and credit in every realm, +and therefore should be committed to the charge of the natural subjects +and not strangers, especially in such places as had daily passages into +foreign realms, and where was concourse of strangers." Further, "The +strangers were known to have been the occasion of many injuries in the +staying and keeping back of letters, and, in the meantime, an +extraordinary would be despatched to prevent the markets and _purpose_." +The English merchants urged that it would be doing the foreigners no +injustice to appoint an English postmaster; no new exactions need be +imposed upon them, "and such men might be placed in the office as could +talk with them in their own language, and that should make as good +promise, and as faithfully perform the same in all equity and upright +dealings, as any stranger had done." The result was, that it was finally +settled that the "Master of the Postes" should have the charge of both +the English and foreign offices, and that the title of this functionary +should be changed to "Chief Postmaster." Thomas Randolph was the first +"Chief Postmaster" of England. + +Under the Tudor dynasty, marvellous strides were taken in the social +progress of the country. The habits of a great nation can, of course, +only change slowly; but, notwithstanding, the England of the +Plantagenets was a different country to the England which Elizabeth left +in 1603. The development of trade, which really commenced with the +Tudors, gave the first great impulse to a new social era. People began +to feel more interest in each other, and as this became manifest, the +demand for interchange of thought and news became more and more urgent. +In the reign of Henry VIII. the English people began a considerable +trade with Flanders in wool. A commercial treaty subsequently gave free +ingress and egress to the ships of both nations. The change that this +new trade wrought was immediate and striking. English rural districts +which had before been self-supporting--growing their own corn and +feeding their own cattle--now turned their corn-land into pasture-land, +and sought grain among their neighbours. The dissolution of the +monasteries under the same monarch had the effect, among other results, +of scattering broadcast over the country those who had previously lived +together and enjoyed almost a monopoly of learning. The Reformation +civilized as well as christianized the people. Other causes were at work +which operated in opening out the country, and encouraging habits of +locomotion and the spread of intelligence generally. Amongst many such, +were changes, for instance, in the routine of law procedure, introduced +by Henry. Up to his time, courts of arbitration had sat from time +immemorial within the different baronies of England, where disputes, +especially those between landlord and tenant, were cheaply and equitably +adjusted. Now, such cases were ordered to be taken to London, and +country people found themselves compelled to take journeys to London and +sue or be sued at the new courts of Westminster.[7] + +We could not well exaggerate the difficulties which encompassed +_travellers_ at this early period. As yet there were but one or two main +roads. Even in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and certainly in all +the remote parts of the country, the roads were not unlike broad +ditches, much waterworn and strewn with loose stones. Travellers had no +choice but to ride on horseback or walk. Everybody who could afford it +rode. The sovereign and all gentlefolk rode. Judges rode the circuit in +jackboots. Ladies rode on pillions fixed on the horse, and generally +behind some relative or serving-man. In this way Queen Elizabeth, when +she rode into the city, placed herself behind her Lord Chancellor. The +wagon was an invention of the period. It was a rude contrivance; +nothing, in fact, but a cart without springs, the body of it resting +solidly upon the axles. The first conveyance of this sort was +constructed for the Queen's own use, and in it she journeyed to open +Parliament.[8] Elizabeth rode in it but on this one occasion, and has +left behind her a curious and most graphic account of her sufferings +during the journey, in a letter, written in the old French of that +period, to the French ambassador at her court, who seems to have +suggested the improvement to her. The wagon, which had been originally +contrived for ladies, now that the Queen discarded it, was not brought +into great use during her reign. It seems to have found its way into the +provinces, however, the gentry of that time being delighted with it. "On +a certaine day in 1583," according to Mr. Smiles, "that valyant knyght, +Sir Harry Sydney, entered Shrewsbury in his wagon, with his trompeter +blowynge, verey joyfull to behold and see." Under such circumstances, +it cannot be wondered at that general intelligence travelled slowly. +Among the common people, few ever saw a letter. Pilgrims, as they +travelled between the monasteries of the period, or who, after their +dissolution, visited their shrines, dispensed news to the poor, and +would occasionally carry letters for the rich.[9] Public and private +couriers riding post were sometimes surrounded, at the villages or towns +on their _route_, by crowds of people desirous of obtaining some +information of the world's doings. At times, they were not suffered to +pass without furnishing some kind of information. The letters of the +period, many of which survive, show that great care was taken to protect +them from the curiosity of the bearer; and precautionary measures were +resorted to to prevent delay. They were usually most carefully folded, +and fastened at the end by a sort of paper strap, upon which the seal +was affixed, whilst under the seal a piece of string or silk thread, or +even a straw, was frequently placed, running round the letter. The +following letter, still extant, will serve to give an insight into the +way letters were dealt with at this period, and the speed at which they +were forwarded.--(Vide _Postmaster-General's 2nd Report_, p. 38.) + + ARCHBISHOP PARKER _to_ SIR W. CECIL. + + SIR, + + According to the Queen's Majesty's pleasure, and your advertisement, + you shall receive a form of prayer, which, after you have perused + and judged of it, shall be put in print and published immediately, + &c. &c. + + From my house at Croyden, this 22d July, 1566, at four of the clock, + afternoon. + + Your honour's alway, + + MATTHEW CANT. + +This letter is thus endorsed by successive postmasters, according to the +existing custom. + + Received at Waltham Cross the 23d of July, at nine at night. + Received at Ware the 23d of July at 12 at night. + Received at Croxton the 24th of July, between 7 and 8 of the morning. + +So that his Grace's letter, which would appear to have been so important +as that one or more messengers were required to travel night and day in +order to deliver it at the earliest possible moment, took 40 hours to +travel 63 miles. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Xenophon. + +[2] Herodotus. + +[3] Travels of Marco Polo, pp. 139, 140. + +[4] Camden's Annals. + +[5] Froude's History, Vol. III. p. 185. + +[6] Surveye of London, Vol. II. + +[7] Froude's History, Vol. III. p. 94. + +[8] Smiles's Lives of the Engineers, Vol. I. + +[9] Historian of Craven, speaking of the close of the sixteenth century. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE RISE OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE. + + +It was reserved for the Stuarts to organize for the first time in +England a regular system of post communication, the benefits of which +should be shared by all who could find the means. England was behind +other European nations in establishing a public letter-post. It was not +until the foreign post had been in existence a hundred years, and until +the foreigners had drawn particular attention to their postal +arrangements by their constant disputes, that the English government +established a general post for inland letters, similar to the one whose +benefits "the strangers" had enjoyed even prior to the reign of Henry +the Eighth. Little progress towards this end was made in the reign of +the first James, if we except a better organization for the conveyance +of official despatches. At the same time, it ought to be stated, that +the improved organization here referred to was the groundwork for the +subsequent public post. + +One of the results attendant on the accession[10] of the Scotch king to +the English Crown necessitated important improvements in the system of +horse posts, for which it called loudly. Immediately on his accession, +the high road from Edinburgh to London was thronged night and day with +the king's countrymen. All ordinary communications fell far short of +the demand; so much so, that post messengers riding from the Council at +Edinburgh to the king in London, or _vice versâ_, were stopped whole +days on the road for want of horses, which had been taken by the +Scottish lords and gentlemen rushing forward to the English capital to +offer their congratulations to his majesty. As a remedy, the lords of +the English council issued a proclamation, calling upon all magistrates +to assist the postmasters "_in this time so full of business_," by +seeing to it that they were supplied with "fresh and able horses as +necessitie shall require." They were to be "able and sufficient horses," +well furnished "of saddles, bridles, girts and stirropes, with good +guides to look to them; who for the said horses shall demand and receive +of such as shall ride on them the prices accustomed" (_Book of +Proclamation_, 1603-1609). + +As the general intercourse between the two capitals now promised to be +permanent, and travelling along the North Road increased rather than +diminished, further general orders were published from time to time by +royal proclamation. Two kinds of post were established during the reign +of James the First, both being in operation together towards its close. +They were known as the "_thorough post_," and "_the post for the +packet_." The first, consisting of special messengers who rode "thorough +post," that is, through the whole distance "with horse and guide," was +established in 1603. The couriers were ordered to pay at the rate of +"twopence-halfpenny the mile" for the hire of each horse, and to pay in +advance. Further, they must not ride any horse more than one stage (or +seven miles in summer, and six in winter), except "with the consent of +the post of the stage at which they did not change." For the service of +the second post, or "_the post for the packet_," every postmaster was +bound to keep not less than two horses ready, "with furniture +convenient," when on the receipt of a "packet" or parcel containing +letters, from a previous stage, he was to send it on towards the next +within a quarter of an hour of its receipt, entering the transaction in +"a large and faire ledger paper book." As a further precaution, and in +order to prevent the courier loitering on the road with any important +despatch, each postmaster was required to endorse each single letter +with the exact time of the messenger's arrival, just as we have seen in +the case of the one found in the collection of Archbishop Parker's +correspondence. For the purposes of this packet-post, we find it +arranged that each postmaster should have ready "two bags of leather, at +the least, well lined with baize or cotton, so as not to injure the +letters." It also rested with the different postmasters to furnish the +couriers with "_hornes_ to sound and blowe as oft as the post meets +company, or at least four times in every mile."[11] Thus arose a custom +which, under slightly different circumstances, was strictly observed in +the days of mail-coaches. + +It will be readily observed that in the arrangements of the packet-post +there was nothing to prevent its being extensively used, except the +important restrictions which the King put upon its use. During the reign +of James nothing but the despatches of ambassadors were allowed to +jostle the Government letters in the leather bags, "lined with baize or +cotton," of "the post for the packet." It was not until Charles the +First had succeeded his father, that this post came to be used, under +certain conditions, by merchants and private persons. + +It was during the reign of James the First that the Government secured, +and kept for a hundred years, certain privileges with respect to the +hiring of post-horses. We have seen that the royal couriers, travelling +with despatches by either of the two posts, had priority of claim to +sufficient horses and proper accommodation on their journeys. They also +settled, by order in Council, that any person, whether travelling on the +business of the Government or not, should, if furnished with warrants +from the Council, have prior claim to private individuals, over +post-horses and proper entertainment, demanding them in the name of the +King. In a warrant of Council, for instance, dated Whitehall, May 12, +1630, we find the Privy Council ordering all postmasters to furnish Sir +Cornelius Vermuyden with horses and guides to enable him to ride post +from London to Boston, and thence to Hatfield, where he was engaged in +draining the royal chase for the King.[12] + +Little as James the First did towards establishing an inland post, +though with materials so ready to his hand, in the posts of which we +have spoken, yet he deserves some credit for setting on foot a general +post for letters to foreign countries. It would seem that the abuses +complained of by English merchants, with regard to letters coming _from_ +abroad, had been lessened by the appointment of an English Postmaster +for the Foreign Office, but not so with letters _sent_ abroad: hence the +independent foreign post projected by the King. In another of the very +numerous proclamations of his reign, it is stated that the King had +created the office of Postmaster-General for Foreign Parts, "being out +of our dominions, and hath appointed to this office Matthew de Quester +the elder, and Matthew de Quester the younger." The duties of this new +office are stated to consist in the "sole taking up, sending, and +conveying of all packets and letters concerning his service, or business +to be despatched into forraigne parts, with power to grant moderate +salaries." These appointments interfering in some way with his +department, gave great offence to Lord Stanhope, the English "Chief +Postmaster," and mutual unpleasantness sprung up between the officers of +the two establishments. A suit was instituted in the law courts, and +whilst it was pending, both offices got completely disarranged, some of +Lord Stanhope's staff going without salary for as long as eight years; +"divers of them," as we find it given in a petition to the Council, "lie +now in prison by reason of the great debt they are in for want of their +entertainment." The dispute was not settled until after Charles the +First had become king--namely, in 1632--when Lord Stanhope was induced +to retire from the service as "Chief Postmaster," the De Questers at the +same time assigning the office they had jointly held to William Frizell +and Thomas Witherings. A royal proclamation was thereupon issued, to the +effect that the King approved of the above assignment. "The King," it +went on to say, "affecting the welfare of his people, and taking into +his princely consideration how much it imports his state and this realm, +that the secrets thereof be not disclosed to forraigne nations, which +cannot be prevented if a promiscuous use of transmitting or taking up of +forraigne letters and packets should be suffered, forbids all others +from exercising that which to the office of such postmaster pertaineth, +at their utmost perils." + +Witherings seems to have made good use of his time, for in 1635, or only +three years from the date of his appointment, he saw the great necessity +which existed for some improvement in the postal resources of the +country, and proposed to the King to "settle a pacquet post between +London and all parts of His Majesty's Dominions, for the carrying and +recarrying of his subjects' letters." In this memorial, which justly +entitles him to a front rank in the number of great postal reformers, +Witherings stated some curious facts relating to the service of those +days. "Private letters," it was said, "being now carried by carriers or +persons travelling on foot, it is sometimes full two months before any +answer can be received from Scotland or Ireland to London." "If any of +his Majesty's subjects shall write to Madrid in Spain, he shall receive +answer sooner and surer than he shall out of Scotland or Ireland." +Witherings proposed that the existing posts should be used; that the +journey between London and Edinburgh should be performed in three days, +when--"if the post could be punctually paid--the news will come _sooner +than thought_." Witherings' memorial had the desired effect on the +Council, who at once set about making the machinery already in use +applicable for a general post for inland letters. In 1635 they issued a +proclamation, in which they state that there had not been hitherto any +constant communication between the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and +therefore command "Thomas Witherings, Esquire, His Majesty's Postmaster +for forraigne parts, to settle a running post or two, to run night and +day between Edinburgh in Scotland and the City of London, to go thither +and back again in 6 days." Directions were also given for the management +of the correspondence between the principal towns on the line of road. +_Bye_ posts shall be connected with the main line of posts, by means of +which letters from such places as Lincoln, Hull, Chester, Bristol, or +Exeter, shall fall into it, and letters addressed to these and other +places shall be sent. Other bye posts are promised to different parts of +the country. All postmasters on the main line of posts, as well as those +of the bye posts, were commanded to have "always ready in their stables +one or two horses." The charges settled by James I. were ordered to be +the charges under the new system, "2½_d._ for a single horse, and +5_d._ for two horses per mile." In a subsequent proclamation two years +afterwards, a monopoly of letter-carrying was established, which has +been preserved ever since, in all the regulations of the Post-Office. No +other messengers or foot posts shall carry any letters, but those who +shall be employed by the King's "Chief Postmaster." Exceptions were +made, however, when the letters were addressed to places to which the +King's post did _not_ travel; also, in the case of common known +carriers; messengers particularly sent express; and to a friend carrying +a letter for a friend. These exceptions, trifling as they were, were +withdrawn from time to time, as the Post-Office became more and more one +of the settled institutions of the country. As it was, the prohibitory +clauses caused great dissatisfaction in the country. The middle of the +seventeenth century was certainly a bad time for introducing a measure +that should bear any appearance of a stretch of the royal prerogative. +That no one but the servants of the King's Postmaster should carry +private letters was regarded as an unwarrantable interference with the +liberty of the subject; so much so, that in 1642 a Committee of the +House of Commons was appointed to inquire into that part of the measure. +The subject was also frequently mentioned in Parliament; notwithstanding +which, the Government strictly adhered to the clause.[13] + +The first rates of postage for the new service were fixed at _twopence_, +for a single letter, for any distance under 80 miles; 4_d._ up to 140 +miles; 6_d._ for any longer distance in England; and 8_d._ to any place +in Scotland. Of course the distances were all reckoned from London. + +The control of the English letter-office was entrusted to the Foreign +Postmaster-General, who had suggested the new undertaking. Witherings +held the joint offices for five years, when in 1640 he was charged with +abusing both his trusts, and superseded by Philip Burlamachy, a London +merchant. It was arranged, however, that Burlamachy should execute the +duties of his offices under the care and inspection of the principal +Secretary of State. And now began a quarrel which lasted incessantly +from 1641 to 1647. When the proclamation concerning the sequestration of +his office was published, Witherings assigned his patent to the Earl of +Warwick. Mindful of this opportunity, Lord Stanhope, the "Chief +Postmaster" under the King's father, who had surrendered his patent some +years before, now came forward and stated that the action had not been +voluntary, but, as we learn from his petition to the House of Lords, he +"was summoned to the Council table, and obliged, before he was suffered +to depart, to subscribe somewhat there penned upon your petitioner's +patent by the Lord Keeper Coventry." Lord Stanhope found a staunch +friend and adherent in Mr. Edmund Prideaux, a member of the House of +Commons, and subsequently Attorney-General to the Commonwealth. Two +rival offices were established in London, and continued strife was +maintained between the officers of the two claimants. On one occasion, +Prideaux himself helped to seize the Plymouth mail which had just +arrived in London, and was proceeding to the office of the Earl of +Warwick near the Royal Exchange. Burlamachy and the Government failed to +restore peace. In the Commission on the Post-Office, to which we have +already referred, the subject was taken up, but the resolution of the +Committee only rendered matters more complicated. The Committee, though +Prideaux contrived to be made Chairman of it, declared that the +sequestration of two years before "was a grievance and illegal, and +ought to be taken off," and Mr. Witherings restored to office. The +Commission decided against the Government, both as regards the +sequestration and the monopoly of letter-carrying, which the King +proclaimed in 1637. Both questions were left in abeyance for two years, +when, in 1644, the Parliamentary forces having begun to gain an +ascendancy over those of the King, the Lords and Commons by a joint +action appointed Edmund Prideaux, the Chairman of the Committee of 1642, +"and a barrister of seven years' standing," to the vacant office. It is +somewhat amusing to note how the monopolizing tendencies of the Crown, +denounced but two years ago by the Parliament, were now openly advocated +and confirmed by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses. The resolution +establishing Prideaux in the office states,[14] that the Lords and +Commons, "finding by experience that it is most necessary for keeping of +good intelligence between the Parliament and their forces, that +post-stages be erected in several parts of the kingdom, and the office +of Master of the Post and Couriers being at present void, ordain that +Edmund Prideaux shall be and hereby is constituted Master of the Posts, +Couriers, and Messengers." Prideaux must have been an energetic and +pains-taking manager. He was very zealous and greatly improved the +service, "establishing," says Blackstone, "a weekly conveyance of +letters to all parts of the country, thereby saving to the public the +charge of maintaining postmasters to the amount of 7,000_l._ per annum." +It seems to have been clearly seen in Parliament that the Post-Office +would eventually pay its own expenses, and even yield a revenue; for, in +deciding on Prideaux's proposal, their object is stated quite concisely +in one of the clauses sanctioning it:--"That for defraying the charges +of the several postmasters, _and easing the State of it_, there must be +a weekly conveyance of letters to all parts of the country." For twenty +years previously the establishment of the post had been a burden to the +extent of three or four thousand pounds a year on the public purse. +Prideaux at first was allowed to take the profits of his office, in +consideration of his bearing all the charges. In 1649, five years after +his appointment, the amount of revenue derived from the posts reached +5,000_l._ and a new arrangement was entered into. The practice of +farming the Post-Office revenue began from the year 1650, and lasted, as +far as regards some of the bye posts, down to the end of the last +century. In 1650 the revenue was farmed for the sum of 5,000_l._ + +In the year 1649 the Common Council of London deliberately established a +post-office for inland letters in direct rivalry to that of the +Parliament. But the Commons, although they had loudly denounced the +formation of a monopoly by the Crown, proceeded to put down this +infringement of the one which they had but lately secured to themselves. +The City authorities, backed, as they were in those days, by immense +power, stoutly denied that the Parliament had any exclusive privilege in +the matter. They could see no reason why there should not be "another +weekly conveyance of letters and for other uses" (this latter clause +most probably meaning conveyance of parcels and packets). Though pressed +to do so, "they refused to seek the sanction of Parliament, or to have +any direction from them in their measure."[15] "The Common Council," it +is further stated by way of complaint, "have sent agents to settle +postages by their authority on several roads, and have employed a +natural Scott, who has gone into Scotland, and hath there settled +postmasters (others than those for the state) on all that road." +Prideaux took care to learn something from the rival company. He lowered +his rates of postage, increased the number of despatches, and then +resolutely applied himself to get the City establishment suppressed. +Prideaux, who had now become Attorney-General, invoked the aid of the +Council of State. The Council reported that, "as affairs now stand, they +conceive that the office of Postmaster is, and ought to be, in the sole +power and disposal of Parliament." After this decision the City posts +were immediately and peremptorily suppressed, and from this date the +carrying of letters has been the exclusive privilege of the Crown. +Though the Government succeeded in establishing the monopoly, public +opinion was greatly against the measure. The authorities of the city of +London, as may well be imagined, were incessant in their exertions to +defeat it, not only at that time, but on many subsequent occasions. +Pamphlets were written on the subject, and one book, especially, +deserves mention, inasmuch as its author bore a name now memorable in +the annals of the British Post-Office. In 1659 was published a book, +entitled _John Hill's Penny Post; or a vindication of the liberty of +every Englishman in carrying merchants' or other men's letters against +any restraints of farmers of such employment_. 4_to._ 1659. + +Under the Protectorate, the Post-Office underwent material changes. +Whilst extending the basis of the Post-Office, Cromwell and his Council +took advantage of the State monopoly to make it subservient to the +interests of the Commonwealth. One of the ordinances published during +the Protectorate sets forth that the Post-Office ought to be upheld, not +merely because it is the best means of conveying public and private +communications, but also because it may be made the agent in +"discovering and preventing many wicked designs, which have been and are +daily contrived against the peace and welfare of this Commonwealth, the +intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated except by letters of +escript." A system of espionage was thus settled which has always been +abhorrent to the nature and feelings of Englishmen. But perhaps we ought +not to judge the question in the light of the present day. And we would +do justice to the Council of the Commonwealth. The Post-Office now for +the first time became the subject of parliamentary enactments, and the +acts passed during the interregnum became the models for all subsequent +measures. In the year 1656 an Act was passed, "to settle the postage of +England, Scotland, and Ireland," and henceforth the Post-Office was +established on a new and broad basis.[16] It was ruled that there +"shall be one General Post-Office, and one officer _stiled_ the +Postmaster-Generall of England, and Comptroller of the Post-Office." +This officer was to have the horsing of all "through" posts and persons +"riding post." "Prices for the carriage of letters, English, Scottish, +and Irish," as well as foreign, and also for post-horses, were again +fixed. All other persons were forbidden "to set up or employ any +foot-posts, horse-posts, or packet-boats." Two exceptions, however, were +made under the latter head, in favour of the _two universities_, "who +may use their former liberties, rights, and privileges of having special +carriers to carry and recarry letters as formerly they did, and as if +this Act had not been made." The _Cinque Ports_ also must "not be +interfered with, and their ancient rights of sending their own post to +and from London shall remain intact." + +At the Restoration this settlement of the Post-Office was confirmed in +almost all its particulars. The statute 12 Car. II. c. 35 re-enacts the +ordinance of the Commonwealth, and on account of its being the earliest +recognised statutory enactment, is commonly known as the "Post-Office +Charter." It remained in full force until 1710. The following is the +important preamble to the statute in question: "Whereas for the +maintainance of mutual correspondencies, and prevention of many +inconveniences happening by private posts, several public post-offices +have been heretofore erected for carrying and recarrying of letters by +post to and from all parts and places within England, Scotland, and +Ireland, and several posts beyond the seas, the well-ordering whereof is +a matter of general concernment, and of great advantage, as well for the +preservation of trade and commerce as otherwise." + +It does not appear _why_ Prideaux's connexion with the Post-Office was +dissolved, nor yet exactly _when_. Probably his more onerous duties as +first law officer of the Government demanded all his time and energy. +However it was, we hear no more of him after his victory over the then +formidable City magnates. During the remaining years of Cromwell's life, +the revenues of the Post-Office, wonderfully augmented by Prideaux's +management, were farmed for the sum of 10,000_l._ a year to a Mr. John +Manley. During Manley's tenure of office, the proceeds must either have +increased with marvellous rapidity, or the contracts were under +estimated; for when, in 1659, Manley left the Post-Office, he calculated +that he had _cleared_ in that and some previous years the sum of +14,000_l._ annually. A Parliamentary Committee instituted a strict +scrutiny into the proceeds of the office in the first year of +the Restoration, at which period it became necessary that a new +Postmaster-General should be appointed. It was agreed by the members of +this Committee to recommend that a much higher sum be asked from the +next aspirant to the office, inasmuch as they found that Mr. Manley, +instead of over-estimating his receipts, had erred on the other side, +and that they could not have come far short of the annual sum of +20,000_l._ The result of the Committee's investigation was, that Mr. +Henry Bishop was only appointed to the vacant place on his entering into +a contract to pay to Government the annual sum of 21,500_l._ In +estimating the increase of Post-Office revenue from year to year, it +must be borne in mind that a considerable item in the account was +derived from the monopoly in post-horses for travelling, which monopoly +had been secured under Cromwell's ordinances, and re-secured under 12 +Car. II. c. 35. By this Act, no traveller could hire horses for riding +post from any but authorized postmasters.[17] This statute remained in +force, under some limitations, till 1779. + +Many matters of detail in the arrangements of the Post-Office were +discussed in Parliament during the first three years of the Restoration. +Long-promised bye-posts were now for the first time established; the +circulation of the letters, meaning by that the _routes_ the mails shall +take, and many such subjects, best settled of course by the authorities, +weary the reader of the Journals of the House of Commons about this +date. In December, 1660, for instance, we find the House deliberating on +a proviso tendered by Mr. Titus to the following effect:--"Provided also +and be it enacted, that a letter or packet-post shall once every week +come to Kendal by way of Lancaster, and to the town of Penrith in +Cumberland by way of Newcastle and Carlisle, and to the City of Lincoln +and the borough of Grimsby likewise;" and we are glad to find that this +reasonable proviso, to give these "_out-of-the-way places_" the benefit +of a weekly post, was agreed to without cavil. We notice one important +resolution of the session of this year, setting forth that, as the +Post-Office Bill has been carried through the Houses satisfactorily, +"such of the persons who have contributed their pains in improvement of +the Post-Office, be recommended to the King's Majesty for consideration, +to be had of the pains therein taken accordingly." Let us hope (for we +find no further mention of the matter) that all concerned got their +deserts. Tardy as the English people were, compared with their +continental neighbours, in rearing the institution of the post, the +foundation of an establishment was now laid which has, at the present +time, far distanced all competitors in its resources and in the matter +of liberal provisions for the people. Even before the days of penny +postage, the Duke of Wellington, than whom no man was supposed to know +better the postal regulations of the Continent, gave it as his +deliberate opinion, that "the English Post-Office is the only one in +Europe which can be said to do its work." In rewarding, therefore, those +who contributed so much to this success at this early period of the +history of the establishment, King Charles would simply pay an +instalment of the debt which future generations would owe to them. + +Mr. Bishop was only left undisturbed for two short years. As it was +evident that the revenue of the office was increasing, the House of +Commons took advantage, at the close of his second year of office, to +desire his Majesty that "no further grant or contract of the Post-Office +be again entered into till a committee inspect the same and see what +improvements may be made on the Revenue, as well as in the better +management of the department." They pray that the office may be given to +the highest bidder. His Majesty replies that he has not been satisfied +with the hands in which it has been. Notwithstanding that a measure was +carried requiring the officers of the Post-Office in London and +the country to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and +notwithstanding that these oaths were properly subscribed, his +Majesty is not at all satisfied, "for the extraordinary number of +_nonconformists and disaffected persons_ in that office," and is +desirous of a change. The term being expired, his Majesty "will have a +care to see it raised to that profit it may fairly be, remembering +always that it being an office of much trust as well as a farm, it will +not be fit to give it to him that bids most, because a dishonest or +disaffected person is likeliest to exceed that way." There can be no +manner of doubt now, that the King's words on this occasion were meant +to prepare the minds of his faithful Commons for the successor which he +had by this time fully resolved upon. Two months subsequently to the +above message to the Commons, the entire revenue of the Post-Office is +settled by statute, 15 Car. II. c. 14, upon James, Duke of York, and his +heirs male in perpetuity. This arrangement existed only during the +lifetime of Charles, for when, at his death, the Duke of York ascended +the throne, the revenue of the Post-Office, which had by that time +reached to 65,000_l._ a-year, again reverted to the Crown. No means were +spared to make the Post-Office fruitful during the remainder of the +years of Charles II. Not only were direct measures sanctioned, but +others which had only a bearing on the interests of the Post-Office were +introduced, and easily carried through the Houses. Now, for the first +time, in 1663, the _Turnpike Act_ made its appearance on our +Statute-book, and we may gather from the preamble to this useful Act +some of the impediments which at that time existed to postal +communication. It sets forth that the great North Road--the main artery +for the post-roads and our national intercourse--was in many parts "very +vexatious," "almost impassable," and "very dangerous." The Act provided +for needful improvements, and was the beginning of legislation on that +subject. + +Letter-franking also commenced in this year. A Committee of the House of +Commons which sat in the year 1735 reported, "that the privilege of +franking letters by the knights, &c. chosen to represent the Commons in +Parliament, began with the creating of a post-office in the kingdom by +Act of Parliament." The proviso which secured this privilege to members +cannot now be regarded otherwise than as a propitiatory clause to induce +a unanimous approval of the bill in general. The account[18] of the +discussion of the clause in question is somewhat amusing. Sir Walter +Earle proposed that "members' letters should come and go free during the +time of their sittings." Sir Heneage Finch (afterwards Lord Chancellor +Finch) said, indignantly, "It is a _poor mendicant_ proviso, and below +the honour of the House." Many members spoke in favour of the clause, +Sir George Downing, Mr. Boscowen, among the number, and Sergeant +Charlton also urged "that letters for counsel went free." The debate +was, in fact, nearly one-sided; but the Speaker, Sir Harbottle +Grimstone, on the question being called, refused for a considerable time +to put it, saying he "felt ashamed of it." The proviso was eventually +put and carried by a large majority. When the Post-Office Bill, with its +franking privilege, was sent up to the Lords, they threw out the clause, +_ostensibly_ for the same reasons which had actuated the minority in +the Commons in opposing it, but _really_, as it was confessed some years +afterwards, because there was no provision made in the Bill that the +"_Lords' own letters should pass free_." A few years later this +important omission was supplied, and both Houses had the privilege +guaranteed to them, neither Lords nor Commons now feeling the +arrangement below their dignity. + +Complaint is made for the first time this year, that letters have been +opened in the General Post-Office. Members of Parliament were amongst +the complainants. The attention of the Privy Council having been called +to the subject, the King issued a proclamation "for _quieting_ the +Postmaster-General in the execution of his office." It ordained that "no +postmaster or other person, except under the immediate warrant of our +principal Secretary of State, shall presume to open letters or packets +_not_ directed unto themselves." + +Two years before the death of Charles II. a penny post, the only +remaining post-office incident of any importance during his reign, was +set up in London for the conveyance of letters and parcels. This post +was originated by Robert Murray, an upholsterer, who, like many other +people living at the time, was dissatisfied that the Post-Office had +made no provision for correspondence between different parts of London. +By the then existing arrangements, communication was much more easy +between town and country than within the limits of the metropolis. +Murray's post, got up at a great cost, was assigned over to Mr. William +Docwray, a name which figures for many succeeding years in post-office +annals. The regulations of the new penny post were, that all letters and +parcels not exceeding a pound weight, or any sum of money not above +10_l._ in value, or parcel not worth more than 10_l._, might be conveyed +at a charge of _one penny_ in the city and suburbs, and for _twopence_ +to any distance within a given ten-mile circuit. Six large offices were +opened at convenient places in London, and receiving-houses were +established in all the principal streets. Stowe says, that in the +windows of the latter offices, or hanging at the doors, were large +placards on which were printed, in great letters, "Penny post letters +taken in here." "Letter-carriers," adds the old chronicler, "gather them +each hour and take them to the grand office in their respective +circuits. After the said letters and parcels are duly entered in the +books, they are delivered at stated periods by other carriers." The +deliveries in the busy and crowded streets near the Exchange were as +frequent as six or eight times a day; even in the outskirts, as many as +four daily deliveries were made. + +The penny post was found to be a great and decided success. No sooner, +however, was that success apparent, and it was known that the +speculation was becoming lucrative to its originator, than the Duke of +York, by virtue of the settlement made to him, complained of it as an +infraction of his monopoly. Nor were there wanting other reasons, +inducing the Government to believe that the penny post ought not to be +under separate management. The Protestants loudly denounced the whole +concern as a contrivance of the Popish party. The great Dr. Oates hinted +that the Jesuits were at the bottom of the scheme, and that if the bags +were examined, they would be found full of treason.[19] The city +porters, too, complained that their interests were attacked, and for +long they tore down the placards which announced the innovation to the +public. Undoubtedly, however, the authorities were most moved by the +_success_ of the undertaking, and thereupon appealed to the Court of +King's Bench, which decided that the new post-office, with all its +profits and advantages, should become part and parcel of the royal +establishment. Docwray was even cast in slight damages and costs. Thus +commenced the _London District Post_, which existed as a separate +establishment to the _General Post_ from this time until so late as +1854. It was at first thought that the amalgamation of the two offices +would be followed by a fusion of the two systems; but this fusion, so +much desired, and one we would have thought so indispensable, was not +accomplished (from a number of considerations to be adduced hereafter), +although the object was attempted more than once. + +About a year after the new establishment had been wrested from him, Mr. +Docwray was appointed, under the Duke of York, to the office of +Controller of the District-Post. This was doubtless meant as some sort +of compensation for the losses he had sustained.[20] + +In 1685, Charles II. died, and the Duke of York succeeding him, the +revenues of the Post-Office, of course, reverted to the Crown. +Throughout the reign of the second James, the receipts of the +Post-Office went on increasing, though (the King being too much engaged +in the internal commotions which disturbed the country) no improvements +of any moment were made. The only subject calling for mention is, that +James first commenced the practice of granting pensions out of the +Post-Office revenue. The year after he ascended the throne, the King, +acting doubtless under the wishes of the "merry monarch," that provision +should be made for her, granted a pension of 4,700_l._ a-year to Barbara +Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, one of the late King's mistresses, to be +paid out of the Post-Office receipts. This pension is still paid to the +Duke of Grafton, as her living representative. The Earl of Rochester was +allowed a pension of 4,000_l._ a-year from the same source during this +reign. In 1694, during the reign of William and Mary, the list of +pensions[21] paid by the Post-Office authorities stood thus:-- + + Earl of Rochester £4,000 + Duchess of Cleveland 4,700 + Duke of Leeds 3,500 + Duke of Schomberg 4,000 + Earl of Bath 2,500 + Lord Keeper 2,000 + William Docwray, till 1698 500 + +Docwray's pension began in 1694, and was regarded as a further +acknowledgment of his claims as founder of the "District-post," or the +"Penny-post," as it was then called. He only held his pension, however, +for four years, losing both his emoluments and his office in 1698, on +certain charges of gross mismanagement having been brought against him. +The officers and messengers under his control memorialized the +Commissioners of the Treasury, alleging that the "Controller doth what +in him lyes to lessen the revenue of the Penny Post-Office, that he may +farm it and get it into his own hands;" also, that "he had removed the +Post-Office to an inconvenient place to forward his ends." There appears +to have been no limit as to the weight or size of parcels transmitted +through the district-post during Docwray's time, but the memorial goes +on to say that "he forbids the taking in of any band-boxes (except very +small) and all parcels above a pound; which, when they were taken in, +did bring a considerable advantage to the Post-Office;" that these same +parcels are taken by porters and watermen at a far greater charge, +"which is a loss to the public," as the penny-post messengers did the +work "much cheaper and more satisfactory." Nor is this all. It is +further stated that "he stops, under spetious pretences, most parcells +that are taken in, which is great damage to tradesmen by loosing their +customers, or spoiling their goods, and many times hazard the life of +the patient when physick is sent by a doctor or an apothecary."[22] It +was hinted that the parcels were not only delayed, but misappropriated; +that letters were opened and otherwise tampered with: and these charges +being partially substantiated, Docwray, who deserved better treatment, +was removed from all connexion with the department. + +It was only towards the close of the seventeenth century, that the +Scotch and Irish post establishments come at all into notice. The first +legislative enactments for the establishment of a Scotch post-office +were made in the reign of William and Mary. The Scotch Parliament passed +such an act in the year 1695. Of course the proclamations of King James +I. provided for the conveyance of letters between the capitals of the +two countries; and although posts had been heard of in one or two of the +principal roads leading out of Edinburgh, even before James VI. of +Scotland became the first English king of that name, it was only after +the Revolution that they became permanent and legalized. Judging by the +success which had followed the English establishment, it was expected +that a Scotch post would soon pay all its expenses. However, to begin, +the King decided upon making a grant of the whole revenue of the Scotch +office, as well as a salary of 300_l._ a year, to Sir Robert Sinclair, +of Stevenson, on condition that he would keep up the establishment.[23] +In a year from that date, Sir Robert Sinclair gave up the grant as +unprofitable and disadvantageous. It was long before the Scotch office +gave signs of emulating the successes of the English post, for, even +forty years afterwards, the whole yearly revenue of the former was only +a little over a thousand pounds. About 1700, the posts between London +and Edinburgh were so frequently robbed, especially in the neighbourhood +of the borders, that the two Parliaments of England and Scotland jointly +passed acts, making the robbery or seizure of the public post +"punishable with death and confiscation of moveables." + +Little is known of the earlier postal arrangements of Ireland. Before +any legislative enactments were made in the reign, it is said, of +Charles I., the letters of the country were transmitted in much the same +way as we have seen they were forwarded in the sister country. The +Viceroy of Ireland usually adopted the course common in England when the +letters of the King and his Council had to be delivered abroad. The +subject is seldom mentioned in contemporary records, and we can only +picture in imagination the way in which correspondence was then +transmitted. In the sixteenth century, mounted messengers were employed +carrying official letters and despatches to different parts of Ireland. +Private noblemen also employed these "intelligencers," as they were then +and for some time afterwards called, to carry their letters to other +chiefs or their dependents. The Earl of Ormond was captured in 1600, +owing to the faithlessness of Tyrone's "intelligencer," who first took +his letters to the Earl of Desmond and let him privately read them, and +afterwards demurely delivered them according to their addresses.[24] + +Charles I. ordered that packets should ply weekly between Dublin and +Chester, and also between Milford Haven and Waterford, as a means of +insuring quick transmission of news and orders between the English +Government and Dublin Castle. We have seen that packets sailed between +Holyhead and Dublin, and Liverpool and Dublin, as early as the reign of +Elizabeth. Cromwell kept up both lines of packets established by +Charles. At the Restoration, only one--namely, that between Chester and +Dublin--was retained, this being applied to the purposes of a general +letter-post. The postage between London and Dublin was 6_d._, fresh +rates being imposed for towns in the interior of Ireland. A new line of +packets was established to make up for that discontinued,[25] to sail +between Port Patrick and Donaghadee, forming an easy and short route +between Scotland and the north of Ireland. For many years this mail was +conveyed in an open boat, each trip across the narrow channel costing +the Post-Office a guinea. Subsequently, a grant of 200_l._ was made by +the Post-Office in order that a larger boat might be built for the +service. This small mail is still continued. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The special messenger who informed James of Queen Elizabeth's death +accomplished a great feat in those days. Sir Robert Carey rode post, +with sealed lips, from Richmond in Surrey to Edinburgh in less than +three days. + +[11] _Notes and Queries_, 1853. + +[12] This instance, showing the usage, gives us an insight into the +amount of control under which these public servants were held. Sir +Cornelius was in the bad grace of the people of the district through +which he had to pass, on account of being a foreigner; so at Royston +Edward Whitehead refused to provide any horses, and on being told he +should answer for his neglect, replied, "Tush! Do your worst. You shall +have none of my horses, in spite of your teeth."--_Smiles._ + +[13] Blackstone, in speaking of the monopoly in letter traffic, states +that it is a "provision which is absolutely necessary, for nothing but +an exclusive right can support an office of this sort; many rival +independent offices would only serve to ruin one another."--_Com._ vol. +i. p. 324. + +[14] Journals of the House of Commons, 1644. + +[15] Journals of the House of Commons, 21st March, 1649. + +[16] In Burton's _Diary_ of the Parliament of Cromwell, an account is +given of the third reading of the new Act, which is important and +interesting enough to be here partly quoted. "The bill being brought up +for the last reading-- + +SIR THOMAS WROTH said: 'This bill has bred much talk abroad since +yesterday. The design is very good and specious; but I would have some +few words added for general satisfaction: to know how the monies shall +be disposed of; and that our letters should pass free as well in this +Parliament as formerly.' + +LORD STRICKLAND said: 'When the report was made, it was told you that it +(the Post-Office) would raise a revenue. It matters not what reports be +abroad, _nothing can more assist trade and commerce than this +intercourse_. Our letters pass better than in any part whatsoever. In +France and Holland, and other parts, letters are often laid open to +public view, as occasion is.' + +SIR CHRISTOPHER PACK was also of opinion, 'That the design of the bill +is very good for trading and commerce; and it matters not what is said +abroad about it. As to letters passing free for members, _it is not +worth putting in any act_.' + +COLONEL SYDENHAM said: 'I move that it may be committed to be made but +probationary; _it being never a law before_.'" The bill was referred to +a Committee, and subsequently passed nearly unanimously. + +[17] Lord Macaulay states that there was an exceptional clause in this +act, to the effect, that "if a traveller had waited half an hour without +being supplied, he might hire a horse wherever he could."--_History of +England_, vol, i. + +[18] Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. ix. + +[19] Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. pp. 387-8. + +[20] Under William and Mary, Docwray was allowed a pension, differently +stated by different authorities, of 500_l._ and 200_l._ a year. + +[21] Amongst the Post-Office pensions granted in subsequent reigns, +Queen Anne gave one, in 1707, to the Duke of Marlborough and his heirs +of 5,000_l._ The heirs of the Duke of Schomberg were paid by the +Post-Office till 1856, when about 20,000_l._ were paid to redeem a +fourth part of the pension, the burden of the remaining part being then +transferred to the Consolidated Fund. + +[22] Stowe's Survey of London. + +[23] Stark's Picture of Edinburgh, p. 144. + +[24] "Letters and Despatches relative to the taking of the Earl of +Ormond, by O'More. A.D. 1600." + +[25] In 1784, the line of Milford Haven packets was re-established, the +rates of postage between London and Waterford to be the same as between +London and Dublin, _viâ_ Holyhead. The packets were, however, soon +withdrawn. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON OLD ROADS AND SLOW COACHES. + + +If we seem in this chapter to make a divergence from the stream of +postal history, it is only to make passing reference to the tributaries +which helped to feed the main stream. The condition of the roads, and no +less the modes of travelling, bore a most intimate relationship, at all +the points in its history, to the development of the post-office system +and its communications throughout the kingdom. The seventeenth century, +as we have seen, was eventful in important postal improvements; the +period was, comparatively speaking, very fruitful also in great changes +and improvements in the internal character of the country. No question +that the progress of the former depended greatly on the state of the +latter. James the First, whatever might be his character in other +respects, was indefatigable in his exertions to open out the resources +of his kingdom. The fathers of civil engineering, such as Vermuyden and +Sir Hugh Myddleton, lived during his reign, and both these eminent men +were employed under his auspices, either in making roads, draining the +fen country, improving the metropolis, or in some other equally useful +scheme. The troubles of the succeeding reign had the effect of +frustrating the development of various schemes of public utility +proposed and eagerly sanctioned by James. Under the Commonwealth, and at +intervals during the two succeeding reigns, many useful improvements of +no ordinary moment were carried out. + +In the provinces, though considerable advances had been made in this +respect during the century, travelling was still exceedingly difficult. +In 1640, perhaps the Dover Road, owing to the great extent of +continental traffic constantly kept up, was the best in England; yet +three or four days were usually taken to travel it. In that year, Queen +Henrietta and household were brought "with expedition" over that short +distance in four long days. Short journeys were accomplished in a +reasonable time, inasmuch as little entertainment was required. It was +different when a long journey was contemplated, seeing how generally +wretched were the hostelries of the period.[26] So bad, again, were some +of the roads, that it was not at all uncommon, when a family intended to +travel, for servants to be sent on beforehand to investigate the country +and report upon the most promising track. Fuller tells us that during +his time he frequently saw as many as six oxen employed in dragging +slowly a single person to church. Waylen says that 800 horses were taken +prisoners at one time during the civil wars by Cromwell's forces, "while +sticking in the mud." + +Many improvements were made in modes of conveyance during the century. A +kind of stage-coach was first used in London about 1608; towards the +middle of the century they were gradually adopted in the metropolis, and +on the better highways around London. In no case, however, did they +attempt to travel at a greater speed than three miles an hour. Before +the century closed, stage-coaches were placed on three of the principal +roads in the kingdom, namely those between London and York, Chester, and +Exeter. This was only for the summer season; "during winter," in the +words of Mr. Smiles, "they did not run at all, but were laid up for the +season, like ships during Arctic frosts." Sometimes the roads were so +bad, even in summer, that it was all the horses could do to drag the +coach along, the passengers, _per force_, having to walk for miles +together. With the York coach especially the difficulties were really +formidable. Not only were the roads bad, but the low midland counties +were particularly liable to floods, when, during their prevalence, it +was nothing unusual for passengers to remain at some town _en route_ for +days together, until the roads were dry. + +Public opinion was divided as to the merits of stage-coach travelling. +When the new threatened altogether to supersede the old mode of +travelling on horseback, great opposition was manifested to it, and the +organs of public opinion (the pamphlet) began to revile it. In 1673, for +instance, a pamphlet[27] was written which went so far as to denounce +the introduction of stage-coaches as the greatest evil "that had +happened of late years to these kingdoms." Curious to know how these sad +consequences had been brought about, we read on and find it stated that +"those who travel in these coaches contracted an idle habit of body; +became weary and listless when they had rode a few miles, and were then +unable to travel on horseback, and not able to endure frost, snow, or +rain, _or to lodge in the fields_." In the very same year another +writer, descanting on the improvements which had been introduced into +the Post-Office, goes on to say, that "besides the excellent arrangement +of conveying men and letters on horseback, there is of late such an +_admirable commodiousness_, both for men and women to travel from London +to the principal towns in the country, _that the like hath not been +known in the world_, and that is by _stage-coaches_, wherein any one may +be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather and foul ways; +free from endamaging of one's health and one's body by hard jogging or +over violent motion; and this not only at a low price (about a shilling +for every five miles), but with such velocity and speed in one hour as +that the posts in some foreign countreys cannot make in a day."[28] M. +Soubrière, a Frenchman of letters who landed at Dover in the reign of +Charles II., alludes to stage-coaches, but seems to have thought less of +their charms than the author we have just quoted. "That I might not take +post," says he, "or again be obliged to use the stage-coach, I went from +Dover to London in a wagon. I was drawn by six horses placed one after +another, and driven by a wagoner who walked by the side of them. He was +clothed in black and appointed in all things like another St. George. He +had a brave monteror on his head, and was a merry fellow, fancied he +made a figure, and seemed mightily pleased with himself." + +The stage-wagon here referred to was almost exclusively used for the +conveyance of merchandise. On the principal roads strings of +stage-wagons travelled together. A string of stage-wagons travelled +between London and Liverpool, starting from the Axe Inn, Aldermanbury, +every Monday and Thursday, and occupying _ten_ days on the road during +summer and generally about _twelve_ in the winter season. Beside these +conveyances, there were "strings of horses," travelling somewhat +quicker, for the carriage of light goods and passengers. The +stage-wagon, as may be supposed, travelled much slower on other roads +than they did between London and Liverpool. On most roads, in fact, the +carriers never changed horses, but employed the same cattle throughout, +however long the journey might be. It was, indeed, so proverbially slow +in the north of England, that the publicans of Furness, in Lancashire, +when they saw the conductors of the travelling merchandise trains appear +in sight on the summit of Wrynose Hill, on their journey between +Whitehaven and Kendal, were jocularly said to begin to brew their beer, +always having a stock of good drink manufactured by the time the +travellers reached the village![29] + +Whilst communication between different large towns was comparatively +easy--passengers travelling from London to York in less than a week +before the close of the century--there were towns situated in the same +county, in the year 1700, more widely separated for all practical +purposes than London and Inverness are at the present day. If a stranger +penetrated into some remote districts about this period, his appearance +would call forth, as one writer remarks, as much excitement as would the +arrival of a white man in some unknown African village. So it was with +Camden in his famous seventeenth-century tour. Camden acknowledges that +he approached Lancashire from Yorkshire, "that part of the country lying +beyond the mountains towards the western ocean," with a "_kind of +dread_," but trusted to Divine Providence, which, he said, "had gone +with him hitherto," to help him in the attempt. Country people still +knew little except of their narrow district, all but a small circle of +territory being like a closed book to them. They still received but few +letters. Now and then, a necessity would be laid upon them to write, and +thereupon they would hurry off to secure the services of the country +parson, or some one attached to the great house of the neighbourhood, +who generally took the request kindly.[30] Almost the only intelligence +of general affairs was communicated by pedlars and packmen, who were +accustomed to retail news with their wares. The wandering beggar who +came to the farmer's house craving a supper and bed was the principal +intelligencer of the rural population of Scotland so late as 1780.[31] +The introduction of newspapers formed quite an era in this respect to +the gentlefolk of the country, and to some extent the poorer classes +shared in the benefit. The first English newspaper published bears the +date of 1622. Still earlier than this, the News Letter, copied by the +hand, often found its way into the country, and, when well read at the +great house of the district, would be sent amongst the principal +villagers till its contents became diffused throughout the entire +community. When any intelligence unusually interesting was received +either in the news letter or the more modern newspaper, the principal +proprietor would sometimes cause the villagers and his immediate +dependants to be summoned at once, and would read to them the principal +paragraphs from his porch. The reader of English history will have an +imperfect comprehension of the facts of our past national life if he +does not know, or remember, how very slowly and imperfectly intelligence +of public matters was conveyed during the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, and what a bearing--very difficult to understand in these +days--such circumstances had upon the facts themselves. Thus, a +rebellion in one part of the country, which was popular throughout the +kingdom, might be quelled before the news of the rising reached another +part of the country. Remote districts waited for weeks and months to +learn the most important intelligence. Lord Macaulay relates that the +news of Queen Elizabeth's death, which was known to King James in three +days, was not heard of in some parts of Devonshire and Cornwall till the +court of her successor had ceased to wear mourning for her. The news of +Cromwell having been made Protector only reached Bridgewater nineteen +days after the event, when the church bells were set a-ringing. In some +parts of Wales the news of the death of King Charles I. was not known +for two months after its occurrence. The churches in the Orkneys +continued to put up the usual prayers for him for months after he was +beheaded; whilst their descendants did the same for King James long +after he had taken up his abode at St. Germains. + +In Scotland, all the difficulties in travelling were felt to even a +greater degree than in England. There were no regular posts to the +extreme north of Scotland, letters going as best they could by +occasional travellers and different routes. Nothing could better show +the difficulties attendant on locomotion of any sort in Scotland, than +the fact that an agreement was entered into in 1678 to run a coach +between Edinburgh and Glasgow, to be drawn by six horses, the journey, +there and back, to be performed in six days. The distance was only +forty-four miles, and the coach travelled over the principal post-road +in the country! + +The reader has thus some idea of the difficulties which stood in the way +of efficient postal communication during the seventeenth century. +However much the work of the Post-Office, and the slow and unequal +manner in which correspondence was distributed, may excite the scorn of +the present generation, living in the days of cheap and quick postage, +they must nevertheless agree with Lord Macaulay in considering that the +postal system of the Stuarts was such as might have moved the envy and +admiration of the polished nations of antiquity, or even of the +contemporaries of our own Shakespeare or Raleigh. In Cornwall, +Lincolnshire, some parts of Wales, and amongst the hills and dales of +Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Yorkshire, letters, it is true, were only +received once a week, if then; but in numbers of large towns they were +delivered two and three times a week. There was _daily_ communication +between London and the Downs, and the same privileges were extended to +Tunbridge Wells and Bath, at the season when those places were crowded +with pleasure-seekers.[32] + +Accounts survive of the Post-Office as it existed towards the close of +the seventeenth century, an outline of which, contributed to the +_Gentleman's Magazine_ by a correspondent in the early part of the +present century, we must be excused for here presenting to the reader. +The Postmaster-General of the period, under the Duke of York, was at +that time the Earl of Arlington. The letters, it would seem, were +forwarded from London to different parts on different days. For +instance: Every Monday and Tuesday the Continental mails were +despatched, part on the former day, the remainder on the latter. Every +Saturday letters were sent to all parts of England, Scotland, and +Ireland. On other days posts were despatched to the Downs, also to one +or two important towns and other smaller places within short distances +of London. The London Post-Office was managed by the Postmaster-General +and a staff of twenty-seven clerks.[33] In the provinces of the three +countries, there were 182 deputy-postmasters. Two packet-boats sailed +between England and France; two were appointed for Flanders, three for +Holland, three for Ireland, and at Deal two were engaged for the Downs. +"As the masterpiece," so our authority winds up, "of all these grand +arrangements, established by the present Postmaster-General, he hath +annexed (_sic_) and appropriated the market-towns of England so well to +the respective postages, that there is no considerable one of them which +hath not an easy and certain conveyance for the letters thereof _once a +week_. Further, though the number of letters missive was not at all +considerable in our ancestors' day, yet it is now so prodigiously great +(_and the meanest of people are so beginning to write in consequence_) +that this office produces in money 60,000_l._ a year. Besides, letters +are forwarded with more expedition, and at less charges, than in any +other foreign country. A whole sheet of paper goes 80 miles for +twopence, two sheets for fourpence, and _an ounce of letter_ for but +eightpence, and that in so short a time, by night as well as day, that +every twenty-four hours the post goes one hundred and twenty miles, and +in _five_ days an answer to a letter may be had from a place distant 200 +miles from the writer!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[26] There were many exceptions, of course. Numbers of innkeepers were +also the postmasters of the period. Taylor, the water-poet, travelling +from London into Scotland in the early part of the century, has +described one of these men, in his _Penniless Pilgrimage_, as a model +Boniface. + +[27] "The Grand Concern of England explained in several Proposals to +Parliament."--Harl. MSS. 1673. + +[28] Chamberlayne's Present History of Great Britain. 1673. + +[29] Private coaches were started in London at the time when the stage- +or hackney-coaches were introduced, and Mr. Pepys secured one of the +first. Mightily proud was he of it, as any reader of his _Diary_ will +have learnt to his great amusement. + +[30] There are few traces in this country, at any time, of _public_ +letter-writers. This is somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as then, and still +in some of the southern states of Europe, the profession of public +letter-writer has long been an institution. In England it has never +flourished. Some years ago there might have been seen at Wapping, +Shadwell, and other localities in London where sailors resorted, +announcements in small shop-windows to the effect that letters were +written there "to all parts of the world." In one shop a placard was +exhibited intimating that a "large assortment of letters _on all sorts +of subjects_" were kept on hand. There were never many, and now very +few, traces of the custom. + +[31] Chambers' Domestic Annals. + +[32] Lord Macaulay. Vol. i. p. 388. + +[33] No less interesting are the particulars of one year's postal +revenue and expenditure, extracted from the old account-books of the +department, by the present Receiver and Accountant-General of the +Post-Office. The date given is within a year or two of that referred to +in the text, viz. 1686-7. The net produce of the year was a little over +76,000_l._, and the following is a few of the most important and most +suggestive items:-- + + £ _s._ _d._ + + Product of foreign mails for the year 17,805 1 7 + The King's Majesty paid for his foreign letters 178 18 4 + Product of Harwich packet-boats 950 5 4 + The Inland window money amounted to 870 4 2 + The letter-receivers' money 313 19 8 + The letter-carriers' money 30,497 10 0 + The Postmaster's money 37,819 8 11 + Officers were _fined_ to the extent of 13 0 0 + The profits of the Irish Office were 2,419 14 0 + Ditto Penny-Post 800 0 0 + +The Scotch Office appears not only not to have brought in any profits, +but we find an item of absolute loss on the exchange of money with +Edinburgh to the extent of 210_l._ 10_s._ 10_d._ + +Amongst the more interesting items of expenditure we notice that-- + + £ _s._ _d._ + + The six clerks in the Foreign Office and about + twenty clerks belonging to other departments + received per annum 60 0 0 + + The salary of the Postmaster-General was 1,500 0 0 + + Two officers had 200_l._ per annum, a third had + 150_l._, and a fourth had 100_l._--all four, doubtless, + heads of departments 450 0 0 + + There were eight letter-receivers in London, viz. + at Gray's Inn, at Temple Bar, at King Street, + at Westminster, in Holborn, in Covent Garden, + in Pall Mall, and in the Strand two offices, + whose yearly salaries amounted in all to 110 6 8 + + The yearly salaries of the whole body of letter-carriers 1,338 15 0 + + The salaries of the deputy-postmasters 5,639 6 0 + +The entire total expenditure was 13,509_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ "Thus we find," +adds Mr. Scudamore, "that while the 'whole net produce' of the +establishment for a year was not equal to the sum which we derive from +the commission on money-orders in a year (Mr. Scudamore is writing of +1854), or to the present 'net produce' of the single town of Liverpool, +so also, the whole expenditure of the whole establishment for a year was +but a little larger than the sum which we now pay _once a month_ for +salaries to the clerks of the London Office alone." If we subtract the +total expenditure from the "whole net produce," as it is called, we get +a sum exceeding 62,000_l._ as the entire net _receipts_ of the +Post-Office for the year 1686-7. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + +Ten years after the removal of Docwray from his office in connexion with +the "Penny Post," another rival to the Government department sprung up +in the shape of a "Halfpenny Post." The arrangements of the new were +nearly identical with those of Docwray's post, except that the +charges, instead of a penny and twopence, were a halfpenny and penny +respectively. The scheme, established at considerable expense by a Mr. +Povey, never had a fair trial, only existing a few months, when it was +nipped in the bud by a law-suit instituted by the Post-Office +authorities. + +In 1710, the Acts relating to the Post-Office were completely +remodelled, and the establishment was put on an entirely fresh basis. +The statutes passed in previous reigns were fully repealed, and the +statute of Anne, c. 10, was substituted in their place, the latter +remaining in force until 1837. The preamble of the Act just mentioned +sets forth, that a Post-Office for England was established in the reign +of Charles II. and a Post-Office for Scotland in the reign of King +William III.; but that it is now desirable, since the two countries are +united, that the two offices should be united under one head. Also, that +packet-boats have been for some time established between England and the +West Indies, the mainland of North America, and some parts of Europe, +and that more might be settled if only proper arrangements were made "at +the different places to which the packet-boats are assigned." It is +further deemed necessary that the existing rates of postage should be +altered; that "with little burthen to the subject some may be increased" +and other new rates granted, "which additional and new rates," it is +added, "may in some measure enable Her Majesty to carry on and furnish +the present war." Suitable powers are also needed for the better +collecting of such rates, as well as provision for preventing the +illegal trade carried on by "private posts, carriers, higlers, watermen, +drivers of stage-coaches, and other persons, and other frauds to which +the revenue is liable." + +As these alterations and various improvements cannot be well and +properly made without a new Act for the Post-Office, the statutes +embodied in 12 Charles II. and the statutes referring to the Scotch +Post-Office passed in the reign of William and Mary, entitled "An Act +anent the Post-Office," and every article, clause, and thing therein, +are now declared repealed, and the statute of 9 Anne, c. 10, called "An +Act for establishing a General Post-Office in all Her Majesty's +dominions, and for settling a weekly sum out of the revenue thereof for +the service of the war, and other Her Majesty's occasions," is +substituted. This Act, which remained in force so long, and may be said +to have been the foundation for all subsequent legislation on the +subject, deserves special and detailed notice. + +1. By its provisions a General Post and Letter-Office is established +within the City of London, "from whence all letters and packets +whatsoever may be with speed and expedition sent into any part of the +kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to North America and the West +Indies, or any other of Her Majesty's dominions, or any country or +kingdom beyond the seas," and "at which office all returns and answers +may be likewise received." For the better "managing, ordering, +collecting, and improving the revenue," and also for the better +"computing and settling the rates of letters according to distance, a +chief office is established in Edinburgh, one in Dublin, one at New +York, and other chief offices in convenient places in her Majesty's +colonies of America, and one in the islands of the West Indies, called +the Leeward Islands." + +2. The whole of these chief offices shall be "under the control of an +officer who shall be appointed by the Queen's Majesty, her heirs and +successors, to be made and constituted by letters patent under the Great +Seal, by the name and stile of Her Majesty's _Postmaster-General_." "The +Postmaster-General shall appoint deputies for the chief offices in the +places named above, and he, they, and their servants and agents, and no +other person or persons whatsoever, shall from time to time, and at all +times, have the receiving, taking up, ordering, despatching, sending +post with all speed, carrying and delivering of all letters and packets +whatsoever." The only exceptions to this clause must be--[34] + + (_a_) When common known carriers bear letters concerning the goods + which they are conveying, and which letters are delivered with the + goods without any further hire or reward, or other profit or + advantage. + + (_b_) When merchants or master-owners of ships send letters in ships + concerning the cargoes of such ships, and delivered with them under + the self-same circumstances. + + (_c_) Letters concerning commissions or the returns thereof, + affidavits, writs, process or proceeding, or returns thereof, + issuing out of any court of justice. + + (_d_) Any letter or letters sent by any private friend or friends in + their way of journey or travel. + +3. The Postmaster-General, and no other person or persons whatever, +shall prepare and provide horses or furniture to let out on hire to +persons riding post on any of Her Majesty's post-roads, under penalty of +100_l._ per week, or 5_l._ for each offence.[35] The rates of charge for +riding post are settled as follows:--The hire of a post-horse shall be +henceforth 3_d._ a mile, and 4_d._ a mile for a person riding as guide +for every stage. Luggage to the weight of 80 pounds allowed, the guide +to carry it with him on his horse. + +4. The rates of postage under the present Act are settled. + + _s._ _d._ + + For any single letter or piece of paper to any place in + England not exceeding 80 miles 0 3 + + " double letter 0 6 + + " packet of writs, deeds, &c. per ounce 1 0 + + " single letter, &c. exceeding 80 miles, or as far + north as the town of Berwick 0 4 + + " double letter 0 8 + + " packet, per ounces 1 4 + + From London to Edinburgh and all places in Scotland + south of Edinburgh, per single letter 0 6 + + " " double letter 1 0 + + " " packets, per ounce 2 0 + +The other Scotch posts were calculated from Edinburgh, and charged +according to the distance as in England. + + _s._ _d._ + + From London to Dublin, single letter 0 6 + " " double letter 1 0 + " " packets, per ounce 2 0 + +From Dublin to any Irish town the charge was according to distance, at +the English rate. + +Any letter from any part of Her Majesty's dominions for London would be +delivered free by the penny post, and if directed to places within a +circuit of ten miles from the General Post-Office, on payment of an +extra penny over and above the proper rate of postage. + + _s._ _d._ + + The postage of a single letter to France was 0 10 + " " Spain 1 6 + " " Italy 1 3 + " " Turkey 1 3 + " " Germany, Denmark 1 0 + " " Sweden 1 0 + " " from London to New York 1 0 + +Other rates were charged to other parts of the American continent, +according to the distance from New York, at something less than the +English rate. + +5. The principal deputy postmasters are empowered to erect _cross-posts_ +or stages, so that all parts of the country may have equal advantage as +far as practicable, but only in cases where the postmasters are assured +that such erections will be for "the better maintainance of trade and +commerce, and mutual correspondences." + +6. A survey of all the post-roads shall be made, so that the distances +between any place and the chief office in each country "shall be settled +by the same measure and standard." These surveys must be made regularly, +"as necessity showeth;" and when finished, the distances must be fairly +shown by "_books of surveys_" one of which must be kept in each of the +head offices, and by each of the surveyors themselves. The surveyors who +shall be appointed and authorized to measure the distances must swear to +perform the same to the best of their skill and judgment.[36] + +7. Letters may be brought from abroad by private ship, but must be +delivered at once into the hands of the deputy postmasters at the +respective ports, who will pay the master of such ship a penny for every +letter which he may thus deliver up to them. It is hoped that, by these +arrangements, merchants will not suffer as they had previously done, by +having their letters "_imbezilled_ or long detained, when they had been +given into the charge of ignorant and loose hands, that understandeth +not the ways and means of speedy conveyance and proper deliverance, to +the great prejudice of the affairs of merchants and others." + +8. The Postmaster-General and the deputy postmasters must qualify +themselves, if they have not already done so, by receiving the +_sacrament_ according to the usage of the Church of England; taking, +making, and subscribing the test, and the oaths of allegiance, +supremacy, and adjuration. It is also decided that the Post-Office +officials must not meddle with elections for members of Parliament. The +officers of the Post-Office must also qualify themselves for the duties +of their office by observing and following such orders, rules, +directions, and instructions, concerning the settlements of the posts +and stages, and the management of post-horses, and the horsing of all +persons riding by royal warrant, as Her Majesty shall see fit from time +to time to make and ordain. + +A short proviso follows concerning the time-honoured privileges of the +two English Universities, and guaranteeing the same; and then we come to +an arrangement for the attainment of which object, it would appear +(almost exclusively), the Post-Office was remodelled in the manner we +have shown. + +9. "Towards the establishment of a good, sure, and lasting fund, in +order to raise a present supply of money for carrying on the war, be it +enacted that from the present time, and during the whole term of 32 +years, the full, clear, and entire weekly sum of 700_l._ out of +the duties and revenues of the Post-Office shall be paid by the +Postmaster-General into the receipts of the Exchequer on the Tuesday of +every week." + +Whatever else was arranged permanently, the increased rates of postage +were only meant to be temporary; for at the end of thirty-two years, it +was provided that the old rates shall be resorted to. The clause was +simply inserted as a war measure, for the purpose of raising revenue, +but we shall see that, so far from returning to the old postages, fresh +burdens were imposed at the end of that period and from time to +time.[37] + +The improvements introduced by the bill of 1710 had the natural effect +of increasing the importance of the Post-Office institution, and of +adding to the available revenue of the country considerable sums each +year. For ten years no further steps were taken to develop the resources +of the service; but in 1720 Ralph Allen appears, another and perhaps the +most fortunate of all the improvers of the Post-Office. Up to this year, +the lines of post had branched off, from London and Edinburgh +respectively, on to the principal roads of the two kingdoms; but the +"cross-posts," even when established, had not been efficient, the towns +off the main line of road not being well served, whilst some districts +had no direct communication through them. The Post-Office Bill had given +facilities for the establishment of more "cross-posts;" but, till 1720, +the authorities did not avail themselves of its provisions to any great +extent. Mr. Allen, at that time the postmaster of Bath, and who must, +from his position, have been well aware of the defects of the existing +system, proposed to the Government to establish cross-posts between +Exeter and Chester, going by way of Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, +connecting in this way the west of England with the Lancashire districts +and the mail route to Ireland, and giving independent postal +intercommunication to all the important towns lying in the direction to +be taken. Previous to this proposal, letters passing between +neighbouring towns were conveyed by circuitous routes, often requiring +to go to the metropolis and to be sent back again by another post-road, +thus, in these days of slow locomotion, causing serious delay. Allen +proposed a complete reconstruction of the cross-post system, and +guaranteed a great improvement to the revenue as well as better +accommodation to the country. By his representations, he induced the +Lords of the Treasury to grant him a lease of the cross-posts for life. +His engagements were to bear all the cost of his new service, and pay a +fixed rental of 6,000_l._ a-year, on which terms he was to retain all +the surplus revenue. From time to time the contract was renewed, but of +course at the same rental; each time, however, the Government required +Allen to include other branches of road in his engagement, so that at +his death, in 1764, the cross-posts had extended to all parts of the +country. Towards the last, the private project had become so gigantic as +to be nearly unmanageable, and it was with something like satisfaction +that the Post-Office authorities saw it lapse to the Crown. At this time +it was considered one of the chief duties of the surveyors--whose +business it was to visit each deputy postmaster in the course of the +year--to see that the distinction between the bye-letters of the +cross-posts, the postage of which belonged to Mr. Allen, and the postage +of the general post letters, which belonged to the Government, was +properly kept up. The deputies were known to hold the loosest notions on +this subject, some of them preferring to appropriate the revenues of one +or the other post rather than make mistakes in the matter. The disputes +and difficulties lasted to the death of Allen.[38] Notwithstanding the +losses he must have suffered through the dishonesty or carelessness of +country postmasters, the farmer of the cross-posts, in an account which +he left at his death, estimated the net profits of his contract at the +sum of 10,000_l._ annually, a sum which, during his official life, +amounted in the total to nearly half a million sterling! Whilst, in +official quarters, his success was greatly envied, Mr. Allen commanded, +in his private capacity, universal respect. In the only short account we +have seen of this estimable man, a contemporary writer states[39] that +"he was not more remarkable for the ingenuity and industry with which he +made a very large fortune, than for the charity, generosity, and +kindness with which he spent it." It is certain that Allen bestowed a +considerable part of his income in works of charity, especially in +supporting needy men of letters. He was a great friend and benefactor of +Fielding; and in _Tom Jones_, the novelist has gratefully drawn Mr. +Allen's character in the person of _Allworthy_. He enjoyed the +friendship of Chatham and Pitt; and Pope, Warburton, and other men of +literary distinction, were his familiar companions. Pope has celebrated +one of his principal virtues, unassuming benevolence, in the well-known +lines:-- + + "Let humble _Allen_, with an awkward shame, + Do good by stealth, and blush to find its fame." + +On the death of Allen, the cross-posts were brought under the control of +the Postmaster-General. An officer, Mr. Ward, was appointed to take +charge of the _Bye-letter Office_, as the branch was now called, at the +salary of 300_l._ a-year. The success of the amalgamation scheme was so +complete, that at the end of the first year, profits to the amount of +20,000_l._ were handed over to the Crown. Afterwards, the proceeds +continued to increase even still more rapidly; so much so, that when, in +1799, the "Bye-letter Office" was abolished, and its management +transferred to the General Office, they had reached the enormous yearly +sum of 200,000_l._! + +At the revision of the Post-Office in 1710, the bounds of the penny post +were extended, as we have seen, to a district within ten miles of the +General Post-Office. This extension was granted on a memorial from +several townships in the London district, who volunteered, if such +extension were made, that they would pay an extra penny for every letter +delivered beyond "the boundaries of the cities of London and +Westminster, and the borough of Southwark." Numerous disputes having +arisen owing to the _wording_ of the Act, and many inhabitants claiming +in consequence to have their letters delivered free within the ten-mile +circuit, a supplementary Act was passed in 1727, "_for the obviating and +taking away such doubts_," as to what was the proper charge, and +directing that the "penny postmen" must not deliver any letters out of +the original limits, but may detain or delay such letters or packets, +unless an extra penny were paid for each on delivery. + +The statute of Queen Anne provided that a weekly payment of 700_l._ +should be made to the Exchequer from the Post-Office for a period of +thirty-two years. This term having expired in 1743, an Act was passed in +that year making the payment _perpetual_, and all clauses, powers, &c. +in the Act of 1711 were also made perpetual. In order to keep up this +source of revenue, which was too good to relinquish, the rates of +postage, instead of being lowered again as stipulated, were kept up, and +several times during subsequent years, as we shall see, fresh additions +were made to the burdens of letter-writers. While on this subject, we +may simply state the clause of Queen Anne's Act relating to the disposal +of the _surplus_ revenue. All pensions were to be paid out of it, and +the remainder retained by the Queen "for the better support of Her +Majesty's household, and for the honour and dignity of the Crown of +Great Britain." On the accession of George I. a bill, granting the same +rights and privileges during the King's lifetime, was passed in the +first session of Parliament. In the first year of the reign of George +II. and his grandson George III. the same rights and privileges were +obtained under the self-same conditions. Though the conditions of the +following Act were, in reality, carried out several years previously, +when a salary of 700,000_l._ a-year was granted to the King for the +support of his household, section 48 of 27 George III. enacts that, for +the King's lifetime, "the entire _net_ revenue of the Post-Office shall +be carried to and made part of the fund, to be called 'the Consolidated +Fund.'" It is scarcely needful to say that this arrangement has existed +from 1787 to the present time. + +From the date of Allen's improvement in 1720 to the year 1761, when the +postage of letters was again disturbed and many other alterations made, +little of special importance was done in the Post-Office, and we cannot +do better than take advantage of this quiet time to give some account of +the internal arrangements of the establishment, and to notice certain +minutiæ, which, though trifling in themselves, will serve to give the +reader an insight into the details, the way and means, of this early +period.[40] In the time of George I. the officers of the Post-Office in +London consisted of _two_ Postmasters-General, with a secretary and a +clerk. There were four chief officers in the Inland-office--viz. a +controller, a receiver, an accountant, and a solicitor. The staff of +clerks consisted of seven for the different roads--Chester, North West, +Bristol, Yarmouth, Kent, and Kent night-road. Thirteen clerks were +engaged in other duties, and three more clerks attended at the window to +answer inquiries and deliver letters. The foreign office, which was a +separate department, included a controller and an alphabet keeper, with +eight assistant clerks. The whole London establishment, which at the +present day numbers several thousand officers of different grades, was +then, without counting letter-carriers, worked with a staff of +thirty-two. + +"To show the method, diligence, and exactness of our General +Post-Office," says a writer of the period, "and the due despatch of the +post at each stage, take this specimen." And for our purpose we cannot +do better than take Stowe's advice, and insert here a copy of a +Post-Office proclamation to postmasters and time-bill, given in his +_History of London_:-- + + "Whereas the management of the postage of the letters of Great + Britain and Ireland is committed to our care and conduct: these are + therefore in His Majesty's name to require you in your respective + stages to use all diligence and expedition in the safe and speedy + conveyance of this mail and letters: that you ride five miles an + hour according to your articles from London to East Grinstead, and + from thence to return accordingly. And hereof you are not to fail, + as you will answer the contrary at your perils. + + Signed, CORNWALLIS. + JAMES CRAGGS."[41] + + +TO THE SEVERAL POSTMASTERS BETWIXT LONDON AND EAST GRINSTEAD. + +Haste, Haste, Post Haste! + + +--------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | | From the Letter-Office at _half an hour past two in the_ | + |_Miles._| _morning_, July 17, 1719. | + | | | + | 16 | Received at Epsom half an hour past six, and sent away | + | | three-quarters past. ALEXANDER FINDLATER. | + | | | + | 8 | Received at Dorking half an hour after eight, and sent | + | | away at nine. CHAS. CASTLEMAN. | + | | | + | 6 | Received at _Rygate_ half an hour past ten, and sent away | + | | again at eleven. JOHN BULLOCK. | + | | | + | 16 | Received at East Grinstead at half an hour after three | + | | in the afternoon. | + +--------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ + +The speed at which the East Grinstead mail travelled was greater than +usual: few post-boys, in the provinces at any rate, were required to go +at a greater rate than three or four miles an hour. Not only this, but +the boys as a rule were without discipline; difficult to control; +sauntered on the road at pleasure, and were quite an easy prey to any +robber or ill-disposed persons who might think it worth their while to +interfere with them. About this time, we find the Post-Office surveyor +complaining dolorously to headquarters, that the gentry "doe give much +money to the riders, whereby they be very subject to get in liquor, +_which stopes the males_." Expresses at that time travelled somewhat +quicker, but still not quick enough for some persons. On one occasion, +Mr. Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford) complained of delay in an express +which had been sent to him; but the Postmasters-General thought there +were no grounds for complaint, inasmuch "as it had travelled 136 miles +in 36 hours, which," added they, "is the usual rate of expresses." + +In the year 1696, the Treasury sanctioned an arrangement for conveying +the mails between Bristol and Exeter, twice a week, under the +stipulation that the distance of sixty-five miles should be performed in +twenty-four hours! + +In Scotland, about the same time, this work was done even slower, and +with greater hardships. The post-boy walked all distances under twenty +miles; longer distances required that the messenger should be mounted, +though no relays of horses were allowed, however long and tedious the +journey might be.[42] + +At this time, it was only a secondary consideration, _when_ or _how_ +letters should be delivered. For a number of years the authorities were +simply bent on raising revenue out of the Post-Office. Thus, about the +period of which we are speaking, a request was made to the authorities +from certain inhabitants of Warwick, that the London letters for that +place should be sent direct to Warwick and not through Coventry, by +which latter route a great many hours were lost. A decided negative was +returned to this very reasonable request, and for the following cogent +_official_ reason, which exhibits well the exacting tendencies of the +Government. "From London to Warwick, through Coventry, is more than +_eighty_ miles," say the Postmasters-General; "so that we can charge +6_d._ per letter going that way, whereas we could only charge 3_d._ if +they went direct." No doubt this reply is given to the Lords of the +Treasury, through whom all such applications as the foregoing had then, +and still have, to pass; for it cannot be imagined that they gave this +reply to the people of Warwick themselves. "Perhaps, however," add the +Post-Office officials, with some glimmering idea of the true business +principle, "we might get _more letters_ at the cheaper rate." Present +profits, nevertheless, could not be sacrificed, even though there should +be a prospect of increased future revenue. Another instance is on +record, proving that in this respect the Post-Office authorities of the +period were wiser than the executive that held them in check. The +Postmasters-General apply (fruitlessly however) to the Treasury to lower +the rates of postage in a particular district, and in urging their +request, state that "we have, indeed, found by experience, that where we +have made the correspondence more easie and cheape, the number of +letters has been thereby much increased, and therefore we do believe +such a settlement may be attended with a like effect in these parts." + +The Treasury Lords are slow to sanction what appeared to them to be a +sacrifice of revenue, and from the frequent applications which were made +to them by deputy postmasters in the early part of last century to +settle accounts of long standing, or remit the arrears owing to the +Government, we may imagine that their hands were full and their temper +soured. Many postmasters in the West of England now petitioned the +Treasury to the effect that they had been nearly ruined in the times of +His Majesty King William, "through much spoiling of their horses by +officers riding-post in the late blessed Revolution." Others grumble at +the lowness of their salaries. It was all very well, they argued, that +the deputies, during the civil wars or at the Revolution, should be +contented with low salaries, because they were exempted from having +soldiers quartered upon them, but now that the time of peace had come, +they submitted that their salaries should be raised. + +The Act of Queen Anne provided for one Postmaster-General. How it came +to be altered is not clear; but it is nevertheless certain that, for the +greater part of the eighteenth century, the office was jointly held by +two chiefs. All letters and mandates bore the signature of both of them; +though it seems probable that the work of the office was equitably +divided between the two gentlemen, the one taking charge principally of +the inland business, while the other managed the packets. The duties of +the latter department were much more onerous than might be supposed, +when viewed in the light of the history of that period. As we have not +yet directed attention to this department of the Post-Office, we may +here state that some curious accounts survive of the infancy of the +postal sea-service, during the former part of last century, when Sir +Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Frankland shared its management. In those +sad times when war was raging, and French privateers covered every sea, +our Postmasters-General were anxious, though shrewd and active men. The +general orders to the captains of the vessels under their control were +such as, under the circumstances, they ought to be: "You must run while +you can, fight when you can no longer run, and throw the mails overboard +when fighting will no longer avail." Notwithstanding such an order, and +on account of so many mails travelling short of their destination, the +Postmasters-General resolve to build swift packet-boats that shall +escape the enemy; but in their inexperience, they get them built so low +in the water, that shortly afterwards, "we doe find that in blowing +weather they take in soe much water that the men are constantly wet +through, and can noe ways goe below, being obliged to keep the hatches +shut to save the vessel from sinking." It is clear that better and +stronger boats must be built, and stronger boats are built accordingly. +To make up for the expense, they order that the freight of passengers +shall be raised, though "recruits and indigent persons shall still have +their passage free." It is noteworthy here, that about this time no +political refugee seeking an asylum in England is ever hard pressed for +a fare on the continental packet-boats, but an entry is made in the +agent's letter-book that so and so "have not wherewithal to pay their +charges," and are sent on their path to liberty without further +question. + +Every provision is supplied by the authorities in London, and salaries +and pensions of all kinds are granted. Thus, in one place, a chaplain is +appointed for the crew of one of the packets, with a small stipend, "for +doing their offices of births, marriage, and burial." Pensions for +wounds received in the service are granted with nice discrimination of +the relative parts of the body. In a letter to their agent at Falmouth, +the Postmasters-General send a scale of pensions to be granted according +to the kind of wound--thus: "For every arm or leg amputated above the +elbow or knee, L.8 per annum; below the arm or knee, twenty nobles. Loss +of the sight of one eye must be L.4; of the pupil of the eye, L.5; of +the sight of both eyes, L.12; of the pupils of both eyes, L.14; and +according to these rules, we _consider also how much also the hurts +affect the body_, and make the allowances accordingly." The duties +devolving upon the chief Post-Office officials seem not only to have +been onerous and heavy--some of their instructions to their agents +bearing dates from the middle of the night and other extraordinary +hours--but curiously varied. Many of their letters are preserved among +the old records in the vaults under the General Post-Office, and some of +them are quite sad and plaintive in their tone. "We are concerned," they +say to one agent, "to find the letters brought by your boat [one from +the West Indies] _to be so consumed by the ratts_, that we cannot find +out to whom they belong." Another letter to their agent at Harwich is +evidently disciplinary, and runs as follows:-- + + "MR. EDISBURY--The woman whose complaint we herewith send you, + _having given us much trouble upon the same_, we desire you will + inquire into the same, and see justice done her, believing she may + have had her brandy stole from her by the sailors.--We are your + affectionate friends[!], + + R. C., T. F." + +It would be difficult to fancy such a letter as the above proceeding +from officialdom in the year of grace eighteen hundred and sixty-four. +In another letter we find the authorities affectionately scolding an +agent because "he had not provided a sufficiency of pork and beef for +the prince" (who this pork-loving prince was does not appear); in +another, because "he had bought powder at Falmouth that would have been +so much cheaper in London." In other cases they act as public guardians +of morality and loyalty, suspending one because "he had stirred up a +mutiny between a captain and his men, _which was unhandsome conduct in +him_;" bringing one Captain Clies to trial, inasmuch as "he had spoken +words reflecting on the royal family, which the Postmasters-General +_took particular unkind of him_," and can by no means allow; and +reprimanding another captain for "breaking open the portmanteau of a +gentleman-passenger, and spoiling him of a parcel of snuff." What with +all these cares and duties, the Postmasters-General of those days could +scarcely have had an easy time of it. + +This sole control over the resources of the packet-service explains much +in the history of the _franking system_, which would be quite +unintelligible without the information just given. The Treasury warrants +of that day franked the strangest commodities--articles which certainly +would not be dropped into any letter-box, and which would neither be +stamped nor sorted in the orthodox way. The following list of a few +franked commodities is culled from a still larger number of such in the +packet "agent's book," found amongst the old records to which reference +has already been made:-- + + "_Imprimis._ Fifteen couple of hounds, going to the King of the + Romans with a free pass. + + "_Item._ Two maid servants, going as laundresses to my Lord + Ambassador Methuen. + + "_Item._ Doctor Crichton, carrying with him _a cow_ and divers + necessaries. + + "_Item._ Two bales of stockings, for the use of the Ambassador to + the Crown of Portugal.[43] + + "_Item._ A deal case, with ffour flitches of bacon, for Mr. + Pennington of Rotterdam." + +Whilst referring to the subject of letter-franking, we may as well +notice here, that before the control of the packet-service passed out of +the hands of the Post-Office authorities, and when the right of franking +letters became the subject of legislative enactments, we hear no more of +these curious consignments of goods. The franking system was henceforth +confined to passing free through the post any letter which should be +indorsed on the cover with the signature of a member of either House of +Parliament. As it was not then made a rule absolute that Parliament +should be in session, or that the correspondence should necessarily be +on the affairs of the nation in order to insure immunity from postage, +this arrangement led to various forms of abuse. Members signed huge +packets of covers at once, and supplied them to friends and adherents in +large quantities. Sometimes they were sold. They have been known to have +been given to servants in lieu of wages, the servants selling them again +in the ordinary way of business. Nor was this all. So little precaution +seems to have been used, that thousands of letters passed through the +Post-Office with forged signatures of members.[44] To such an extent did +this and kindred abuses accumulate, that, in 1763, the worth of franked +correspondence passing through the post was estimated at 170,000_l._ +During the next year--viz. in 1764--Parliament enacted that no letter +should pass free through the Post-Office unless the whole address was in +the member's own handwriting and his signature attached likewise. Even +these precautions, though lessening the frauds, were not sufficient to +meet the evil, for fresh regulations were thought necessary in 1784. +This time it was ordered that all franks should be dated, the month to +be given in full; and further, that all such letters should be put into +the post on the day they were dated. From 1784 to the date of penny +postage no further regulations were made concerning the franked +correspondence, the estimated value of which during these years was +80,000_l._ annually. + +The rates of postage ordered by the Government of Queen Anne continued +in force for eighteen years after it was designed by the Act that they +should cease, and it was only in 1761, at the commencement of the reign +of George III., that any alteration was made. Even then the rates were +increased instead of diminished. 1 Geo. III. c. 25 provides, that the +improvement of correspondence is a matter of such great concernment and +so highly necessary for the extension of trade and commerce, that the +statutes of Queen Anne need repealing to some extent, and especially as, +through vast accessions of territory, no posts and post-rates are +arranged to all his Majesty's dominions. The improvements and +alterations made at this time may thus be summed up, viz.:-- + +1. Additions are made to the vessels on the American station. Other and +cheaper rates of postage are established between London and North +America and all his Majesty's territories in America. + +2. Concerning letters brought by private ships from any foreign part, no +ship or vessel shall be permitted to make entry in any port of Great +Britain, or to unload any of its cargo, until all letters and packets +brought by such ship, or any passenger on board such ship, are +delivered into the hands of the deputy-postmaster of the port, and until +the captain shall receive the deputy's receipt for the same. In cases +where the vessel "is liable to the performance of quarantine," the first +step must be to deliver the letters into the hands of the superintendent +of the quarantine, to be by him despatched to the Post-Office. A penalty +of 20_l._ with full costs to be inflicted on any master not delivering a +letter or packet of letters according to this Act, one moiety to go to +the King and the other to the person informing. + +3. The roads are to be re-surveyed, under the arrangements laid down in +Queen Anne's Act, for the purpose of settling the rates of postage +afresh. + +4. Letters to be charged according to the post-stages travelled, or +shorter distances to be paid for; thus:-- + + _s._ _d._ + For the conveyance of every single letter not exceeding + 15 miles 0 1 + " " double letter 0 2 + " " ounce 0 4 + " " single letter, 30 miles and + under 40 miles 0 2 + " " double letter 0 4 + " " ounce 0 8 + " " single letter, 40 miles and + under 80 miles 0 3 + " " double letter 0 6 + " " ounce 1 0 + +And so on. + +These rates were again altered in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of +George III. for the raising of revenue to defray his Majesty's expenses, +the alteration, which took effect on the introduction of mail-coaches, +consisting of the addition of one penny to every existing charge.[45] + +5. Permission is given to settle penny post-offices in other towns in +England, on the same basis as the London penny-post establishment. The +permission thus granted was soon applied, and long before the +establishment of uniform penny-postage, there were at least a thousand +penny-posts in existence in different towns. The principle which guided +the Department in establishing penny-posts was to select small towns and +populous neighbourhoods not situated in the direct line of general post +conveyances, which were desirous of obtaining extra facilities, and +granting such posts provided that they did not afford the means for +evading the general post. The only requisite was, that the authorities +should have a reasonable hope that the proposed post would yield +sufficient to pay for its maintenance--a thing considered settled if the +receipts on its first establishment would pay two-thirds of the entire +charges. + +6. The weight of any packet or letter to be sent by the London +penny-post, or any of the new penny-posts to be established under this +improved Act, must not now exceed _four ounces_. + +In 1749, the Act restraining any other but officers of the Post-Office +from letting out horses to hire for the purpose of riding post, is +stated not to refer to cases where chaises, "calashes," or any other +vehicles, are furnished. Vehicles to drive may be provided on either +post-roads or elsewhere by any person choosing to engage in the trade. +In 1779, all Acts giving exclusive privileges to the Postmaster-General +and his deputies as to the letting of post-_horses_ for hire are +henceforth repealed. + +In the year 1766 the first penny-post was established in Edinburgh by +one Peter Williamson, a native of Aberdeen. He kept a coffee-shop in the +hall of the Parliament House, and as he was frequently employed by +gentlemen attending the courts in sending letters to different parts of +the city, and as he had doubtless heard something of the English +penny-posts, he began a regular post with hourly deliveries, and +established agents at different parts of the city to collect letters. He +employed four carriers, who appeared in uniform, to take the letters +from the different agents, and then to deliver them as addressed. For +both these purposes they were accustomed to ring a bell as they +proceeded, in order to give due notice of their approach. The +undertaking was so successful, that other speculators were induced to +set up rival establishments, which, of course, led to great confusion. +The authorities saw the success of the undertaking, and, aware of its +importance, they succeeded in inducing Williamson to take a pension for +the good-will of his concern, and then merged it in the general +establishment. + +We cannot attempt more than a short _résumé_ of the incidents in the +previous history of the Scotch Post-Office, although the annals of the +seventeenth century contain little of interest, and might, therefore, +soon be presented to the reader. The first regular letter-post was +established in the reign of James I. (of England). In 1642, owing to the +sending of forces from Scotland to put down the Irish Rebellion, it was +found that the post arrangements in the south-west of Scotland were +defective in the extreme. The Scotch Council proposed to establish a +line of posts between Edinburgh and Portpatrick, and Portpatrick and +Carlisle, and the English, being more immediately concerned in the +Rebellion, agreed to bear the whole expense.[46] In the Privy Council +records of the period, we find a list of persons recommended by the +Commissioners for appointment on the two lines of road as postmasters, +"such persons being the only ones fit for that employment, as being +innkeepers and of approved honesty." Seven years afterwards we find the +Post-Office at Edinburgh was under the care of John Mean, husband of the +woman who discharged her stool at the bishop's head when the +service-book was introduced into St. Giles's in 1637. He seems to have +himself borne the charges of attending to the office "without any +reasonable allowance therefor;" and petitioning the Committee of Estates +to that effect, they allowed him to retain the "eighth penny on all +letters sent from Edinburgh to London (no great number), and the fourth +penny upon all those coming from London to Edinburgh." At the +Restoration the office was bestowed on Robert Main, and considerable +improvements were made under his management, although only with existing +posts. Little was done for other parts of Scotland. A traveller in +Scotland so late as 1688, commenting on the absence of stage or other +coaches on most Scotch roads, says,[47] that "this carriage of persons +from place to place might be better spared, were there opportunities and +means for the speedier conveyance of business by letters. They have no +horse-posts besides those which ply between Berwick and Edinburgh, and +Edinburgh and Portpatrick for the Irish packets.... From Edinburgh to +Perth, and so on to other places, they use foot-posts and carriers, +which, _though a slow way of communicating our concerns to one another, +yet is such as they acquiesce in till they have a better_." Our +traveller is somewhat wrong in his date, for in 1667 a horse-post to +Aberdeen from Edinburgh, twice a week, was started, with the consent of +Patrick Graham, of Inchbrakie, his Majesty's Postmaster-General, "for +the _timous_ delivery of letters and receiving returns of the _samen_." +Two years afterwards Inverness got dissatisfied with the want of postal +communication, when Robert Main, the Edinburgh postmaster, was +commissioned to establish a constant foot-post between Edinburgh and +Inverness, going once a week, "wind and weather serving."[48] "Wind and +weather serving" is an amusing qualification, as pointed out by Mr. +Chambers, considering that there was only one ferry of six or seven +miles, and another of two miles, to cross. In 1661, we find the +Edinburgh postmaster useful in another capacity, for in that year the +Privy Council grant a warrant to him "to put to print and publish _ane +diurnal weekly_, for preventing false news which may be invented by evil +and disaffected persons." + +We must now pass over many years, as not offering any incidents of any +moment. In the year 1730 we find that the Scotch establishment yielded +the sum of 1,194_l._ as the whole gross revenue. From about the year +1750, the mails began to be carried from stage to stage, as in England, +by relays of fresh horses and different post-boys, though not entirely +to the exclusion of the post-runners, of whom we have previously spoken. + +In 1723, the Edinburgh Post-Office occupied the first-floor of a house +near the cross, above an alley which still bears the name of the +Post-Office Close. It was afterwards removed to a floor on the south +side of the Parliament Square, which was fitted up shop-fashion, and +where the letters were given out from behind an ordinary shop counter, +one letter-carrier doing all the out-door work. The Post-Office was +removed to its present situation in 1821. Towards the close of 1865, it +is expected, the handsome building now rising up near the old office +will be finished and opened for postal purposes.[49] + +Even less interest attaches to the early annals of the Irish +Post-Office. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was +certainly more remunerative than the Scotch, though much less +remunerative than the English departments. Previous to the introduction +of mail-coaches, all mails were conveyed, or supposed to be conveyed, by +the postmasters, to whom certain special allowances were made for each +particular service. "There were no contracts, and no fixed rules as to +time. Three miles and a half (per hour) seems to have been the pace +acknowledged to have been sufficient. The bags were usually conveyed by +boys. In the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis, some sort of +cart was used, but with this exception the bags were carried either on +ponies or mules, or on foot."[50] The same authority tells us further +that, "at this time, the bags were carried to Cork, Belfast, Limerick, +and Waterford, six days a week; and three days a week to Galway, +Wexford, and Enniskillen. There were three posts to Killarney; but for +this the Government refused to pay anything. The postmaster had a salary +of 3_l._ a-year, but the mail was carried by foot-messengers, who were +maintained at the cost of the inhabitants and of the news-printers in +Cork. Carrick-on-Shannon was the only town in county Leitrim receiving a +mail, and this it did twice a week. Now it has two every day. Except at +the county-town, there was no post-office in the whole county of Sligo; +and there were but sixteen in the province of Connaught, where there are +now one hundred and seventy-one." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] These exceptions were again made in the Act 1 Vic. c. 33. s. 2, and +still remain the law. + +[35] This clause was repealed in the reign of George II. + +[36] The office of Post-Office Surveyor, of which we here see the +origin, still exists (though the officers now so designated have very +different duties) among the most responsible and lucrative appointments +in the Department. + +[37] "There cannot be devised," says Blackstone, "a more eligible method +than this of raising money upon the subject; for therein both the +Government and the people find a mutual benefit. The Government requires +a large revenue, and the people do their business with greater ease, +expedition, and cheapness than they would be able to do if no such tax +existed."--_Com._ vol. i. p. 324. + +[38] At this time, and for some years subsequently, the mails were +carried on horseback in charge of post-boys. Some of these post-boys +were sad rogues, who, besides taking advantage of confusion in the two +posts, were accustomed to carry letters themselves concealed upon them +and for charges of course quite unorthodox. In old records of the +Post-Office, principally the Surveyor's Book, referring to country +post-offices from the year 1735, there are long complaints from the +surveyor on this head. The following, "exhibiting more malice than good +grammar," may be taken as a specimen, and will suffice to show the way +things were managed at that date:--"At this place (Salisbury) found the +post-boys to have carried on vile practices in taking the _bye-letters_, +delivering them in this cittye and taking back answers, especially the +_Andover_ riders. On the 15th found on Richard Kent, one of the Andover +riders, 5 bye-letters, all for this cittye. Upon examining the fellow, +he confessed he had made it a practice, _and persisted to continue in +it_, saying he had noe wages from his master. I took the fellow before +the Magistrate, proved the facts, and he was committed, but pleading to +have no money or friends, desired a punishment to be whipped, which +accordingly _he was to the purpose_. Wrote the case to Andover and +ordered the fellow to be dismissed, but no regard was had thereto, but +the next day the same rider came post, ran about the cittye for letters +_and was insolent_. Again he came post with two gentlemen, made it his +business to take up letters; the fellow, however, instead of returning +to Andover, gets two idle fellows and rides off with three horses, which +was a return for his master not obeying my instructions." Our shrewd +surveyor thus amply got his revenge, and the Post-Office and Mr. Allen +suffer no more from the delinquencies of Richard Kent.--_From Mr. +Scudamore's Notes._ + +[39] _Gentleman's Magazine_, August, 1760. + +[40] Mr. Scudamore, of the General Post-Office, to whom we are indebted +for much of the _minutiæ_ in question, has been successful in his +efforts to preserve permanently some of the old records of the +Post-Office; and the result of his labours may be found in the Appendix +to the Postmaster-General's First Report. + +[41] Son of the James Craggs who succeeded Addison as Secretary of +State, and who obtained such an unusual portion of the poetical praise +of Pope. The son came in for a share also, as, for example:-- + + "Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere, + In action faithful, and in honour clear." + +[42] Campbell, in his _Tales of the Highlands_, relates two or three +incidents which show that little improvement had taken place in post +communications in some part of Scotland even a hundred years later. The +English order of posts and express posts seem there to have been +reversed, express work being done the worst. For instance: "Near +Inverary, we regained a spot of comparative civilization, and came up +with the post-boy, whose horse was quietly grazing at some distance, +whilst Red Jacket himself was immersed in play with other lads. 'You +rascal,' I said to him, 'are you the post-boy and thus spending your +time?' 'Nae, nae, sir,' he answered, 'I'm no the post, I'm only an +Express!'" + +[43] What the Right Hon. John Methuen wanted with two bales of stockings +is, of course, a mystery, if he was not embarking in the haberdashery +line. It may be he was desirous of regaining the favour of the +Portuguese Court, by supplying the whole with English stockings. This +was the Methuen who gave his name to a well-known treaty, which, by the +way, was found so distasteful to the Portuguese that when, in 1701, he +carried it to Pedro II. for his signature, that monarch gave vent to his +displeasure by kicking it about the room.--_Marlborough Despatches_, +vol. v. p. 625. + +[44] At the investigation in 1763 it was related that "one man had, in +the course of five months, counterfeited 1,200 dozens of franks of +different members of Parliament." + +[45] As an example of the summary proceedings of those days, we may here +just note the remarks which Mr. Pitt made in his place in Parliament +when he proposed this increase, calculating that the change would +produce at least 120,000_l._ additional revenue out of the Post-Office. +The tax upon letters, said he, could be calculated with a great degree +of certainty, and the changes he had to propose would _by no means +reduce the number sent. It was idle to suppose that the public would +grumble in having to pay just one penny additional for valuable letters +safely and expeditiously conveyed._ He proposed "to charge all letters +that went one stage and which now paid one penny in future the sum of +2_d._, and this would bring in the sum of 6,230_l._ All that now pay +2_d._ paying an additional penny would yield 8,923_l._ Threepenny +letters paying another penny would produce 33,963_l._ The increase of +fourpenny letters would produce 34,248_l._" The cross-roads he could not +speak of with great certainty, but he thought they might calculate on at +least 20,000_l._ from that source, and so on, till the estimated sum was +reached. + +[46] _Domestic Annals of Scotland._ By Mr. R. Chambers. Vol. ii. p. 142. + +[47] _A Short Account of Scotland_, published in London in 1702. + +[48] The wording of the qualifying clauses in the proclamations of +stage-coaches, &c. are very various, and sometimes exceedingly amusing. +In England the Divine Hand was generally recognised in the formula of +"God willing," or, "If God should permit." On the contrary, the human +element certainly preponderated--whether it was meant so or not--in the +announcement made by a carrying communication between Edinburgh and a +northern burgh, when it was given out that "a waggon would leave the +Grass market for Inverness every Tuesday, God willing, but on Wednesday +_whether or no_." + +[49] It will be remembered that the late lamented Prince Consort laid +the foundation-stone of this structure in 1862, being the last occasion +on which he assisted at any public ceremony. For further information of +the Scotch Office, see Mr. Lang's _Historical Summary of the Post-Office +in Scotland_. + +[50] Appendix to Postmaster-General's Third Report, supplied by Mr. +Anthony Trollope, then one of the Post-Office Surveyors for Ireland. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PALMER AND THE MAIL-COACH ERA. + + +We have now arrived at a most important epoch in the history of the +English Post-Office. Fifteen years after the death of Mr. Allen, John +Palmer, one of the greatest of the early post-reformers rose into +notice. To give anything approaching to a proper account of the eminent +services that Palmer rendered towards the development of the resources +of the Post-Office, it is requisite that we notice the improvements +which had been made up to his time in the internal communications of the +country. Trade and commerce, more than ever active, were the means of +opening out the country in all directions. Civil engineering had now +acquired the importance and dignity of a profession. This was the age of +Brindley and Smeaton, Rennie and Telford, Watt and Boulton. Roads were +being made in even the comparatively remote districts of England; +bridges were built in all parts of the country; the Bridgewater and +other canals were opened for traffic, whilst many more were laid out. +And what is perhaps more germane to our special subject, many +improvements were apparent in the means of conveyance during the same +period.[51] While, on the one hand, the ordinary stage-coach had found +its way on to every considerable road, and was still equal to the usual +requirements, the speed at which it travelled did not at all satisfy the +enterprising merchants of Lancashire and Yorkshire. So early as 1754, a +company of merchants in Manchester started a new vehicle, called the +"Flying Coach," which seems to have owed its designation to the fact +that the proprietors contemplated an acceleration in the speed of the +new conveyance to four or five miles an hour. It started with the +following remarkable prospectus:--"However incredible it may appear, +this coach will actually (barring accidents) arrive in London in four +days and a half after leaving Manchester." In the same year a new coach +was brought out in Edinburgh, but the speed at which it travelled was no +improvement on the old rate. It was of better appearance, however; and +the announcement heralding its introduction to the Edinburgh public +sought for it general support on the ground of the extra comfort it +would offer to travellers. "The Edinburgh stage-coach," says the +prospectus, "for the better accommodation of passengers, will be altered +to a new genteel two-end glass machine, hung on steel springs, +exceedingly light and easy, to go (to London) in ten days in summer and +twelve in winter."[52] Three years afterwards, the Liverpool merchants +established another "flying machine on steel springs," which was +designed to, and which really did, eclipse the Manchester one in the +matter of speed.[53] Three days only were allowed for the journey +between Liverpool and London. Sheffield and Leeds followed with their +respective "fly-coaches," and by the year 1784 they had not only become +quite common, but most of them had acquired the respectable velocity of +eight miles an hour. + +The post-boy on horseback travelling at the rate of three or four miles +an hour, had been an institution since the days of Charles II., and now, +towards the close of the eighteenth century, the Post-Office was still +clinging to the old system. It was destined, however, that Mr. Palmer +should bring about a grand change. Originally a brewer, Mr. Palmer was, +in 1784, the manager of the Bath and Bristol theatres. He seems to have +known Mr. Allen, and to have been fully acquainted with his fortunate +Post-Office speculations. In this way, to some extent, but much more, +doubtless, through his public capacity as manager of two large theatres, +he became acquainted with the crude postal arrangements of the period. +Having frequently to correspond with the theatrical stars of the +metropolis, and also to journey between London and the then centres of +trade and fashion, he noticed how superior the arrangements were for +travelling to those under which the Post-Office work was done, and he +conceived the idea of improvements. + +Palmer found that letters, for instance, which left Bath on Monday night +were not delivered in London until Wednesday afternoon or night; but the +stage-coach which left through the day on Monday, arrived in London on +the following morning.[54] Not only did the existing system of mail +conveyance strike him as being exceedingly slow, but insecure and +otherwise defective. As he afterwards pointed out, he noticed that when +tradesmen were particularly anxious to have a valuable letter conveyed +with speed and safety, they never thought of giving it into the safe +keeping of the Post-Office, but were in the habit of enclosing it in a +brown paper parcel and sending it by the coach: nor were they deterred +from this practice by having to pay a rate of carriage for it far higher +than that charged for a post-letter. Robberies of the mails were so +frequent, that even to adopt the precaution recommended by the +Post-Office authorities, and send valuable remittances such as a bank +note, bills of exchange, &c. _at twice_, was a source of endless trouble +and annoyance, if it did not prove entirely ineffective. Who can wonder +at the Post-Office robberies when the carelessness and incompetency of +the servants of the Post-Office were taken into account? A curious +robbery of the Portsmouth mail in 1757 illustrates the careless manner +in which the duty was done. The boy who carried the mail had dismounted +at Hammersmith, about three miles from Hyde Park Corner, and called for +beer, when some thieves took the opportunity to cut the mail-bags from +off the horse's crupper, and got away undiscovered. The French mail on +its outward-bound passage _viâ_ Dover was more than once stopped and +rifled before it had got clear of London. A string stretched across a +street in the borough through which the mail would pass has been known +to throw the post-boy from his horse, who, without more ado, would +coolly retrace his steps, empty-handed, to the chief office, and report +the loss of his bags. What could be expected, however, in the case of +raw, unarmed post-boys, when carriages were stopped in broad daylight in +Hyde Park, and even in Piccadilly itself, and pistols pointed at the +breasts of the nobility and gentry _living close at hand_? Horace +Walpole relates that he himself was robbed in Hyde Park in broad +daylight, in a carriage with Lord Eglinton and Lady Albemarle. + +Mr. Palmer, however, was ready with a remedy for robbery, as well as for +the other countless defects in the existing postal arrangements. He +began his work of reform in 1783, by submitting a full scheme in a +lengthy report to Mr. Pitt, who was at that time Prime Minister. He +commenced by describing the then existing system of mail transmission. +"The post," he says, "at present, instead of being the quickest, is +almost the slowest conveyance in the country; and although, from the +great improvements in our roads, other carriers have proportionately +mended their speed, the post is as slow as ever." The system is also +unsafe; robberies are frequent, and he saw not how it could be otherwise +if there were no changes. "The mails," continued Palmer, "are generally +intrusted to some idle boy without character, mounted on a worn-out +hack, and who, so far from being able to defend himself, or escape from +a robber, is more likely to be in league with him." If robberies were +not so frequent as the circumstances might lead people to suppose, it +was simply because thieves had found, by long practice, that the +mails were scarcely worth robbing--the booty to be obtained being +comparatively worthless, inasmuch as the public found other means of +sending letters of value. Mr. Palmer, as we have before stated, knew of +tradesmen who sent letters by stage-coach. Why, therefore, "should not +the stage-coach, well protected by armed guards, under certain +conditions to be specified, carry the mail-bags?" Though by no means the +only recommendation which Mr. Palmer made to the Prime Minister, this +substitution of a string of mail-coaches for the "worn-out hacks" was +the leading feature of his plans. Evincing a thorough knowledge of his +subject (however he may have attained that knowledge), and devised with +great skill, the measures he proposed promised to advance the postal +communication to as high a pitch of excellence as was possible. To lend +to the scheme the prospect of _financial_ success, he laboured to show +that his proposals, if adopted, would secure a larger revenue to the +Post-Office than it had ever yet yielded; whilst, as far as the public +were concerned, it was evident that they would gladly pay higher for a +service which was performed so much more efficiently. Mr. Pitt, who +always lent a ready ear to proposals which would have the effect of +increasing the revenue, saw and acknowledged the merits of the scheme +very early. But, first of all, the Post-Office officials must be +consulted; and from accounts[55] which survive, we learn how bitterly +they resented proposals not coming from themselves. They made many and +vehement objections to the sweeping changes which Palmer's plans would +necessitate. "The oldest and ablest officers in the service" represented +them "not only to be impracticable, but dangerous to commerce and the +revenue."[56] The accounts of the way in which they met some of his +proposals is most amusing and instructive. Thus, Palmer recommended Mr. +Pitt to take some commercial men into his councils, and they would not +fail to convince him of the great need there was for change. He also +submitted that the suggestions of commercial men should be listened to +more frequently, when postal arrangements for their respective districts +should be made. Mr. Hodgson, one of the prominent officers of the +Post-Office, indignantly answered that "it was not possible that any set +of gentlemen, merchants, or outriders (commercial travellers, we +suppose), could instruct officers brought up in the business of the +Post-Office. And it is particularly to be hoped," said this gentlemen, +with a spice of malice, "if not presumed, that the surveyors need no +such information." He "ventured to say, that the post as then managed +was admirably connected in all its parts, well-regulated, carefully +attended to, and not to be improved by any person unacquainted with the +whole. It is a pity," he sarcastically added, "that Mr. Palmer should +not first have been informed of the nature of the business in question, +to make him understand how very differently the post and post-offices +are conducted to what he apprehends." + +Mr. Palmer might not be, and really was not, acquainted with all the +working arrangements of the office he was seeking to improve: yet it +was quite patent to all outside the Post-Office that the entire +establishment needed remodelling. Mr. Hodgson, however, and his +_confrères_ "were amazed," they said, "that any dissatisfaction, any +desire for change, should exist." The Post-Office was already perfect in +their eyes. It was, at least, "almost as perfect as it can be, without +exhausting the revenue arising therefrom." They could not help, +therefore, making a united stand against any such new-fangled scheme, +which they predict "will fling the commercial correspondence of the +country into the utmost confusion, and which will justly raise such a +clamour as the Postmaster-General will not be able to appease." Another +of the principal officers, a Mr. Allen, who seems to have been more +temperate in his abuse of the new proposals, gave it as his opinion, +"that the more Mr. Palmer's plan was considered, the greater number of +difficulties and objections started to its ever being carried completely +into execution." + +From arguing on the general principles involved, they then descend to +combat the working arrangements of the theatre-manager with even less +success. Mr. Palmer complains that the post is slow, and states that it +ought to outstrip all other conveyances. Mr. Hodgson "could not see +_why_ the post should be the swiftest conveyance in England. Personal +conveyances, I apprehend, should be much more, and particularly with +people travelling on business." Then followed Mr. Draper, another +official, who objected to the coaches as travelling too fast. "The +post," he said, "cannot travel with the expedition of stage-coaches, on +account of the business necessary to be done in each town through which +it passes, and without which correspondence would be thrown into the +utmost confusion." Mr. Palmer had proposed that the coaches should +remain fifteen minutes in each town through which they passed, to give +time to transact the necessary business of sorting the letters. Mr. +Draper said that half an hour was not enough, as was well enough known +to persons at all conversant with Post-Office business. Living in this +age of railways and steam, we have just reason to smile at such +objections. Then, as to the appointment of mail-guards, Mr. Palmer +might, but Mr. Hodgson could, see no security, though he could see +endless trouble, expense, and annoyance in such a provision. "The man +would doubtless have to be waited for at every alehouse the coach +passed." He might have added that such had been the experience with the +post-boys under the _régime_ which he was endeavouring to perpetuate. +Mr. Palmer stipulated, that the mail-guards should in all cases be well +armed and accoutred, and such officers "as could be depended upon as +trustworthy." But the Post-Office gentlemen objected even to this +arrangement. "There were no means of preventing robbery with effect,[57] +as the strongest cart or coach that could be made, lined and bound with +iron, might easily be broken into by determined robbers," and the +employment of armed mail-guards would only make matters worse. Instead +of affording protection to the mails, the following precious doctrine +was inculcated, that the crime of murder would be added to that of +robbery; "for," said the wonderful Mr. Hodgson, "when once desperate +fellows had determined upon robbery, resistance would lead to murder"! +These were peace and non-resistance principles with a vengeance, but +principles which in England, during the later years of Pitt's +administration, would seldom be heard, except in furtherance of some +such selfish views as those which the Post-Office authorities held in +opposition to Mr. Palmer's so-called innovations. + +Mr. Palmer's propositions also included the timing of the mails at each +successive stage, and their departure from the country properly +regulated; they would thus be enabled to arrive in London at regular +specified times, and not at any hour of the day or night, and might, to +some extent, be delivered simultaneously. Again: instead of _leaving_ +London at all hours of the night, he suggested that all the coaches for +the different roads should leave the General Post-Office at the same +time; and thus it was that Palmer established what was, to the stranger +in London for many years, one of the first of City sights. Finally, Mr. +Palmer's plans were pronounced impossible. "It was an impossibility," +his opponents declared, "that the Bath mail could be brought to London +in sixteen or eighteen hours." + +Mr. Pitt was less conservative than the Post-Office authorities. He +clearly inherited, as an eloquent writer[58] has pointed out, his +father's contempt for impossibilities. He saw, with the clear vision for +which he was so remarkable, that Mr. Palmer's scheme would be as +profitable as it was practicable, and he resolved, in spite of the +short-sighted opposition of the authorities, that it should be adopted. +The Lords of the Treasury lost no more time in decreeing that the plan +should be tried, and a trial and complete success was the result. On the +24th of July, 1784, the Post-Office Secretary (Mr. Anthony Todd) issued +the following order:--"His Majesty's Postmasters-General, being inclined +to make an experiment for the more expeditious conveyance of mails of +letters by stage-coaches, machines, &c., have been pleased to order that +a trial shall be made upon the road between London and Bristol, to +commence at each place on Monday, the 2d of August next." Then follows a +list of places, letters for which can be sent by these mail-coaches, and +thus concludes: "All persons are therefore to take notice, that the +letters put into any receiving-house before six of the evening, or seven +at this chief office, will be forwarded by these new conveyances; all +others for the said post-towns and their districts put in afterwards, or +given to the bellmen, must remain until the following post at the same +hour of seven." + +The mail-coaches commenced running according to the above advertisement, +not, however, on the 2d, but on the 8th of August. One coach left London +at eight in the morning, reaching Bristol about eleven the same night. +_The distance between London and Bath was accomplished in fourteen +hours._ The other coach was started from Bristol at four in the +afternoon on the same day, reaching London in sixteen hours. + +Mr. Palmer was installed at the Post-Office on the day of the change, +under the title of Controller-General. It was arranged that his salary +should be 1,500_l._ a-year, together with a commission of two and a half +per cent. upon any excess of net revenue over 240,000_l._--the sum at +which the annual proceeds of the Post-Office stood at the date of his +appointment. + +The rates of postage, as we have before incidentally pointed out, were +slightly raised--an addition of a penny to each charge; but, +notwithstanding this, the number of letters began at once, and most +perceptibly, to increase. So great was the improvement in security and +speed, that, for once, the additions to the charges were borne +ungrudgingly. Coaches were applied for without loss of time by the +municipalities of many of our largest towns,[59] and when they were +granted--as they appear to have been in most of the instances--they were +started at the rate of six miles an hour. This official rate of speed +was subsequently increased to eight, then to nine, and at length to ten +miles an hour.[60] + +The opposition to Mr. Palmer's scheme, manifested by the Post-Office +officials before it was adopted, does not seem to have given way before +the manifest success attending its introduction. Perhaps Mr. Palmer's +presence at the Council Board did not conduce to the desirable unanimity +of feeling. However it was, he appears for some time to have contended +single-handed with officials determinately opposed to him. When goaded +and tormented by them, he fell into their snares, and attempted to carry +his measures by indirect means. In 1792, when his plans had been in +operation about eight years, and were beginning to show every element of +success, it was deemed desirable that he should surrender his +appointment. A pension of 3,000_l._ was granted to him in consideration +of his valuable services. Subsequently he memorialized the Government, +setting forth that his pension fell far short of the emoluments which +had been promised to him, but he did not meet with success. Mr. Palmer +never ceased to protest against this treatment; and his son, +Major-General Palmer, frequently urged his claims before Parliament, +until, in 1813, after a struggle of twenty years, the House of Commons +voted him a grant of 50,000_l._ Mr. Palmer died in 1818. + +Now that Mr. Palmer was gone from the Post-Office, his scheme was left +to incompetent and unwilling hands. All the smothered opposition broke +out afresh; and if it had been less obvious how trade and commerce, and +all the other interests promoted by safe and quick correspondence, were +benefited by the new measures; and if it had not been for the vigilant +supervision of the Prime Minister--who had let the reformer go, but had +no intention of letting his reforms go with him--all the improvements of +the past few years might have been quietly strangled in their infancy. +Though we know not what the country lost in losing the guiding-spirit, +it is matter of congratulation that the main elements of his scheme were +fully preserved. Though the Post-Office officials scrupled not to +recommend some return to the old system, Mr. Palmer's plans were fully +adhered to until the fact of their success became patent to both the +public and the official alike. In the first year of their introduction, +the net revenue of the Post-Office was about 250,000_l._ Thirty years +afterwards the proceeds had increased sixfold, to no less a sum than a +million and a half sterling! Though, of course, this great increase is +partly attributable to the increase of population, and the national +advancement generally, it was primarily due to the greater speed, +punctuality, and security which the new arrangements gave to the +service. Whilst, financially, the issue was successful, the result, in +other respects, was no less certain. In 1797, the greater part of the +mails were conveyed in one-half of the time previously occupied; in some +cases, in one-third of the time; and on the cross-roads, in a quarter of +the time, taken under the old system. Mails not only travelled quicker, +but Mr. Palmer augmented their number between the largest towns. Other +spirited reforms went on most vigorously. Three hundred and eighty +towns, which had had before but three deliveries of letters a-week, now +received one daily. The Edinburgh coach required less time by sixty +hours to travel from London, and there was a corresponding reduction +between towns at shorter distances. Ten years before the first Liverpool +coach was started, a single letter-carrier sufficed for the wants of +that place; before the century closed, _six_ were required. A single +letter-carrier sufficed for Edinburgh for a number of years;[61] now +_four_ were required. + +No less certain was it that the mails, under the new system, travelled +more securely. For many years after their introduction, not a single +attempt was made, in England, to rob Palmer's mail-coaches. It is +noteworthy, however, that the changes, when applied to Ireland, did not +conduce to the greater security of the mails. The first coach was +introduced into Ireland in 1790, and placed on the Cork and Belfast +roads, a few more following on the other main lines of road. Though +occasionally accompanied by as many as _four_ armed guards, the +mail-coaches were robbed, according to a competent authority, "as +frequently as the less-aspiring riding-post." + +Not many months after the establishment of mail-coaches, an Act +was passed through Parliament, declaring that all carriages and +stage-coaches employed to carry his Majesty's mails should henceforth be +exempt from the payment of _toll_, on both post- or cross-roads. +Previously, all post-horses employed in the same service travelled free +of toll. This Act told immediately in favour of the Post-Office to a +greater extent than was imagined by its framers. Innkeepers, who, in +England, were the principal owners of stage-coaches,[62] bargained for +the carriage of mails, very frequently at merely nominal prices. In +return, they enjoyed the advantages of the coach and its passengers, +travelling all roads free of toll. + +Arrived at the end of the century, we find the mail-coach system is now +an institution in the country. Other interests had progressed at an +equal rate. Travelling, as a rule, had become easy and pleasant. Not +that the service was performed without any difficulty or hindrance. On +the contrary--and it enters within the scope of our present object to +advert to them--the obstacles to anything like a perfect system seemed +insurmountable. Though the difficulties consequent on travelling, at the +beginning of the present century, were comparatively trifling on the +_principal post-roads_, yet, when new routes were chosen, or new +localities were designed to share in the common benefits of the new and +better order of things in the Post-Office, these same difficulties had +frequently to be again got over. Cross-roads in England were greatly +neglected--so much so, in fact, that new mail-coaches which had been +applied for and granted, were often enough waiting idle till the roads +should be ready to receive them. The Highway Act of 1663, so far as the +roads in remote districts were concerned, was completely in abeyance. +Early in the century we find the subject frequently mentioned in +Parliament. As the result of one discussion, it was decided that every +inducement should be held out to the different trusts to make and repair +the roads in their respective localities; while, on the other hand, the +Postmaster-General was directed by the Government to indict all +townships who neglected the duty imposed upon them. Under the Acts of 7 +& 8 George III. c. 43, and 4 George IV. c. 74, commissioners were +appointed to arrange for all necessary road improvements, having certain +privileges vested in them for the purpose. Thus, they recommended that +certain trusts should have loans granted to them, to be employed in +road-making and mending. Mr. Telford, at his death, was largely employed +by the Road Commissioners--the improvements on the Shrewsbury and +Holyhead road being under his entire superintendence. And it would seem +that the above-mentioned road needed improvement. When, in 1808, a new +mail-coach was put on to run between the two places, no fewer than +twenty-two townships had to be indicted by the Post-Office authorities +for having their roads in a dangerous and unfinished state. + +In Scotland and Ireland, great improvements had also been made in this +respect, considering the previously wretched state of both countries, +Scotland especially. At a somewhat earlier period, four miles of the +best post-road in Scotland--namely, that between Edinburgh and +Berwick--were described in a contemporary record as being in so ruinous +a state, that passengers were afraid of their lives, "either by their +coaches overturning, their horses stumbling, their carts breaking, or +their loads casting, and the poor people with burdens on their backs +sorely grieved and discouraged;" moreover, "strangers do often exclaim +thereat," as well they might. Things were different at the close of the +last century; still, the difficulties encountered in travelling, say by +the Bar, may well serve to show the internal state of the country. +"Those who are born to modern travelling," says Lord Cockburn,[63] "can +scarcely be made to understand how the previous age got on. There was no +bridge over the Tay at Dunkeld, or over the Spey at Fochabers, or over +the Findhorn at Forres. Nothing but wretched peerless ferries, let to +poor cotters, who rowed, or hauled, or pushed a crazy boat across, or +more commonly got their wives to do it.... There was no mail-coach north +of Aberdeen till after the battle of Waterloo.... I understand from +Hope, that after 1784, when he came to the bar, he and Braxfield rode a +whole north circuit; and that, from the Findhorn being in a flood, they +were obliged to go up its bank for about _twenty-eight miles_, to the +Bridge of Dulsie, before they could cross. I myself rode circuits when I +was an Advocate Depute, between 1807 and 1810." A day and a half was +still, at the end of the last century, taken up between Edinburgh and +Glasgow. In 1788, a direct mail-coach was put on between London and +Glasgow, to go by what is known as the west coast route, _viâ_ +Carlisle.[64] The Glasgow merchants had long wished for such a +communication, as much time was lost in going by way of Edinburgh. On +the day on which the first mail-coach was expected, a vast number of +them went along the road for several miles to welcome it, and then +headed the procession into the city. To announce its arrival on +subsequent occasions, a gun was fired. It was found a difficult task, +however, to drive the coach, especially in winter, over the bleak and +rugged hills of Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire; the road, moreover, was +hurriedly and badly made, and at times quite impassable. Robert Owen, +travelling between his model village in Lanarkshire and England, tells +us[65] that it often took him two days and three nights, incessant +travelling, to get from Manchester to Glasgow in the coach, the greater +part of the time being spent north of Carlisle. On the eastern side of +the country, in the direct line between Edinburgh and London, a grand +new road had been spoken of for many years. The most difficult part, +viz. that between Edinburgh and Berwick, was begun at the beginning of +the present century, and in 1824, a good road was finished and opened +out as far south as Morpeth, in Northumberland. A continuation of the +road from Morpeth to London being greatly needed, the Post-Office +authorities engaged Mr. Telford, the eminent engineer, to make a survey +of the road over the remaining distance. The survey lasted many years. A +hundred miles of the new Great North Road, south of York, was laid out +in a perfectly straight line.[66] All the requisite arrangements were +made for beginning the work, when the talk of locomotive engines and +tramways, and especially the result of the locomotive contest at +Rainhill in the year 1829, had the effect of directing public and +official attention to a new and promising method of travelling, and of +preventing an outlay of what must have been a most enormous sum for the +purposes of this great work.[67] The scheme was in abeyance for a few +months, and this time sufficed to develop the railway project, and +demonstrate its usefulness to the postal system of the country. But we +are anticipating matters, and must, at any rate, speak for a moment of +the services of Mr. Macadam. The improvements which this gentleman +brought about in road-making had a very sensible effect on the +operations of the mail-coach service. Most of the post-roads were +_macadamized_ before the year 1820, and it was then that the service was +in its highest state of efficiency. Accelerations in the speed of the +coaches were made as soon as ever any road was finished on the new +principle. From this time, the average speed, _including stoppages_, was +nine miles, all but a furlong. The fastest coaches (known as the "crack +coaches" from this circumstance, and also for being on the best roads) +were those travelling, in 1836, between London and Shrewsbury +(accomplishing 154 miles in 15 hours), London and Exeter (171 miles in +17 hours), London and Manchester (187 miles in 19 hours), and London and +Holyhead (261 miles in 27 hours). On one occasion, the Devonport mail, +travelling with foreign and colonial letters, accomplished the journey +of 216 miles, including stoppages, in 21 hours and 14 minutes. + +In 1836, there were fifty four-horse mails in England, thirty in +Ireland, and ten in Scotland. In England, besides, there were forty-nine +mails of two horses each. In the last year of mail-coaches, the number +which left London every night punctually at eight o'clock was +twenty-seven; travelling in the aggregate above 5,500 miles, before they +reached their several destinations. We have already stated how the +contracts for _horsing_ the mail-coaches were conducted; no material +change took place in this respect up to the advent of railways. Early in +the present century, it was deemed desirable that the mail-coaches +should all be built and furnished on one plan. For a great number of +years, the contract for building and repairing a sufficient number was +given (without competition) to Mr. John Vidler. Though the Post-Office +arranged for building the coaches, the mail contractors were required to +pay for them; the revenue only bearing the charges of cleaning, oiling, +and greasing them, an expense amounting to about 2,200_l._ a-year. In +1835, however, on a disagreement with Mr. Vidler, the contract was +thrown open to competition, from which competition Mr. Vidler, for a +substantial reason, was excluded. The official control of the +coaches, mail-guards, &c., it may here be stated, was vested in the +superintendent of mail-coaches, whose location was at the General +Post-Office. + +Had Hogarth's pencil transmitted to posterity the _tout ensemble_ of a +London procession of mail-coaches, or of one of them at the door of the +customary halting-place (what Herring has done for the old Brighton +coach the "_Age_," with its fine stud of blood-horses, and a real +baronet for driver), the subject could not but have occasioned marked +curiosity and pleasure. No doubt he would have given a distinguished +place to the guard of the mail. The mail-guard was no ordinary +character, being generally _d'accord_ with those who thought or +expressed this opinion. Regarded as quite a public character, +commissions of great importance were oftentimes intrusted to him. The +country banker, for example, would trust him with untold wealth. Though +he was paid only a nominal sum by the Post-Office authorities for his +official services, he was yet enabled to make his position and place a +lucrative one, by the help of the regular perquisites and other +accidental windfalls which we need not further specify. Gathering _en +route_ scraps of local gossip and district intelligence, he was often +"private," and sometimes "special," correspondent to scores of different +people. The _Muddleton Gazette_, perhaps the only newspaper on his line +of road, was submissively dependent upon him. More of him anon: here we +would only add that he had special duties on special occasions. The +mail-coach was looked for most anxiously in times of great excitement. +During the trial of Queen Caroline, says Miss Martineau, "all along the +line of mails, crowds stood waiting in the burning sunshine for news of +the trial, which was shouted out to them as the coach passed."[68] +Again, at the different stages in the history of the Reform Bill, the +mail-roads were sprinkled over for miles with people who were on the +_qui vive_ for any news from London, and the coachman and guards on the +top of the coaches shouted out the tidings.[69] When the Ministry +resigned, many of the guards distributed handbills which they had +brought from London, stating the facts. + +In these days of cheap postage and newspapers in every household, it may +be difficult to comprehend the intense interest centring in the +appearance of the mail on its arrival at a small provincial town. The +leather bag of the Post-Office was almost the undisputed and peculiar +property of the upper ten thousand. When there was good reason to +suppose that any communication was on its way to some member of the +commonalty, speculation would be eager among the knot of persons met to +talk over the probable event. Thus we may understand with what eagerness +the mail would be looked for, and how the news, freely given out, +especially in times of war, would be eagerly devoured by men of all +ranks and parties. + +It only remains to notice, in conclusion, the annual procession of +mail-coaches on the king's birthday, which contemporaries assure us was +a gay and lively sight. One writer in the early part of the century goes +so far as to say that the cavalcade of mail-coaches was "a far more +agreeable and interesting sight to the eye _and the mind_ than the gaud +and glitter of the Lord Mayor's show," because the former "made you +reflect on the advantages derived to trade and commerce and social +intercourse by this _magnificent establishment_" (the Post-Office). +Hone, in his _Every-day Book_, writing of 1822, tells us that George +IV., who was born on the 12th of August, changed the annual celebration +of his birthday to St. George's-day, April 23d. "According to custom," +says he, "the mail-coaches went in procession from Millbank to Lombard +Street. About twelve o'clock, the horses belonging to the different +mails with entire new harness, and the postmen and postboys on horseback +arrayed in their new scarlet coats and jackets, proceed from Lombard +Street to Millbank and there dine; from thence, the procession being +re-arranged, begins to march about five o'clock in the afternoon, headed +by the general post letter-carriers on horseback. The coaches follow +them, filled with the wives and children, friends and relations, of the +guards or coachmen; while the postboys sounding their bugles and +cracking their whips bring up the rear. From the commencement of the +procession, the bells of the different churches ring out merrily and +continue their rejoicing peals till it arrives at the Post-Office again, +from whence the mails depart for different parts of the kingdom." Great +numbers assembled to witness the cavalcade as it passed through the +principal streets of the metropolis. The appearance of the coachmen and +guards, got up to every advantage, and each with a large bouquet of +flowers in his scarlet uniform, was of course greatly heightened by the +brilliancy of the newly-painted coach, emblazoned with the royal arms. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[51] No one who has read _Roderick Random_ can forget the novelist's +description of his hero's ride from Scotland to London. As it is +generally believed to be a veritable account of a journey which Smollett +himself made about the middle of the last century, the reader may be of +opinion that the improvement here spoken of was not so great as it might +have been. Roderick, however, travelled in the "_stage-waggon_" of the +period. He and his faithful friend Strap having observed one of these +waggons a quarter of a mile before them, speedily overtook it, and, +ascending by means of the usual ladder, "tumbled into the straw under +the darkness of the tilt," amidst four passengers, two gentlemen and two +ladies. When they arrived at the first inn Captain Weazel desired a room +for himself and his lady, "with a separate supper;" but the impartial +innkeeper replied he "had prepared victuals for the passengers in the +waggon, without respect of persons." Strap walked by the side of the +waggon, changing places with his master when Roderick was disposed to +walk. The mistakes, the quarrels, and the mirth of the passengers, are +told by the novelist with a vivacity and humour which would have been +admirable but for their coarseness. After five days' rumbling in the +straw, the passengers get quite reconciled to each other; "nothing +remarkable happened during the remaining part of our journey, _which +continued six or seven days longer_." + +There were also a few bad roads. Arthur Young, in his famous _Tour in +the North of England_, has described a Lancashire turnpike-road of about +the same period in the following vigorous phraseology:--"I know not in +the whole range of language terms sufficiently expressive to describe +this infernal road. To look over a map and perceive that it is a +principal road, one would naturally conclude it to be at least decent; +but let me most seriously caution all travellers who may purpose to +travel this terrible country to avoid it as they would the devil, for a +thousand to one they will break their necks or their limbs by +over-throws or breakings-down. They will here meet with ruts which +actually measured four feet deep and floating with mud, and this only +from a wet summer; what, therefore, must it be after a winter? The only +mending which it in places receives is the tumbling in some loose +stones, which serve no other purpose but jolting a carriage in the most +intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions, but facts, for I +actually passed three carts broken down in these eighteen miles of +execrable memory." The road in question was that between Wigan and +Preston, then a regular post-road and now on the trunk line of mail +conveyance into Scotland. + +[52] Chambers' _Traditions of Edinburgh_, vol. i. p. 168. + +[53] Baines's _History of Lancashire_, p. 83. + +[54] The Bath post was no exception. The letters which left London at +two o'clock on Monday morning did not reach Worcester, Norwich, or +Birmingham till the Wednesday, Exeter not till Thursday, and Glasgow and +Edinburgh for about a week. + +[55] _Vide_ Report of the Committee of House of Commons in 1797, on "Mr. +Palmer's Agreement for the Reform and Improvement of the Post-Office and +its Revenue," p. 115. + +[56] Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the +Public Offices in 1788. + +[57] Post-Office robberies had been exceedingly numerous within a few +years of the change which Palmer succeeded in inaugurating. Though one +prosecution for a single robbery cost the authorities no less a sum than +4,000_l._, yet they regarded the occurrences as unavoidable and simply +matters of course. + +[58] Mr. M. D. Hill, in _Fraser's Magazine_, November, 1862. + +[59] The Liverpool merchants were the first to petition the Treasury for +the new mail-coach. "This petition being complied with in the course of +a few months, the letters from London reached Liverpool in thirty hours. +At first these coaches were small vehicles, drawn by two horses, which +were changed every six miles. They carried four passengers, besides the +coachman and guard, both dressed in livery, the latter being armed to +the teeth, as a security against highwaymen."--Baines's _History of +Liverpool_. In October, 1784, York applied for a mail-coach, to pass +through that place on its way to the North. + +[60] This velocity was not attained without considerable misgivings and +distrust on the part of travellers. When the eight was increased to ten +miles an hour, the public mind was found to be in different stages of +alarm and revolt. Vested interests indulged in the gloomiest forebodings +on those who should thus knowingly spurn the way of Providence. +Lord-Chancellor Campbell relates that he was frequently warned against +travelling in the mail-coaches improved by Palmer, on account of the +fearful rate at which they flew, and instances were supplied to him of +passengers who had died suddenly of apoplexy from the rapidity of the +motion. + +[61] Sir Walter Scott relates that a friend of his remembered the London +letter-bag arriving in Edinburgh, during the year 1745, with but one +letter for the British Linen Company. About the same time the Edinburgh +mail is said to have arrived in London, containing but one letter, +addressed to Sir William Pulteney, the banker. + +[62] In Ireland, on the contrary, the trade was in the hands of two or +three large contractors, who charged heavily for work only imperfectly +performed. Until the introduction of railways, the mail service of +Ireland, owing to the absurd system adopted, was always worked at a +greater cost, comparatively, than in England. In 1829, the Irish +service, of considerably less extent, cost four times as much as the +entire mail establishment of England. Mr. Charles Bianconi has been the +Palmer of Ireland. In the early part of the present century he observed +the want of travelling accommodation and formed plans for serving the +country by a regular system of passenger-cars. He succeeded in inducing +the different postmasters (who, up to the year 1830, had the conveyance +of mails in their own hands, getting certain allowances for the service +from Government, and then arranging for carriage in the cheapest way +possible) to let him carry their mails. This he did at a cheap rate, +stipulating, however, that he should not be required to run his cars at +any inconvenient time for passenger traffic. On the amalgamation of the +English and Irish Offices in 1830, Mr. Bianconi, who had now established +a good reputation, entered into contracts with the general authorities +to continue the work, though on a larger scale than ever, the extent of +which may be judged by the fact that in 1848 he had 1,400 horses +employed. The growth and extent of railway communication necessarily +affected his establishment, but, with unabated activity, Mr. Bianconi +directed his labours into new districts when his old roads were invaded +by the steam-engine and the rail. He is described to have been "ready at +a moment's notice to move his horses, cars, and men to any district, +however remote, where any chance of business might show itself." A year +or two ago this indefatigable man was still busy, and held several +postal contracts; his establishment (1860) consisting of 1,000 horses, +and between sixty and seventy conveyances, daily travelling 3,000 or +4,000 miles and traversing twenty-two counties. + +[63] _Memorials of his Time_, vol. i. p. 341. + +[64] Dr. Cleland, in his _Statistical Account of Glasgow_, tells us that +before this time, viz. in 1787, the course of post from London to +Glasgow was by way of Edinburgh, _five_ days in the week. Only five +mails arrived in Glasgow from London on account of no business being +transacted at the Edinburgh Office on Sundays. It now occurred, however, +to some one of the astute managers of the Post-Office, that the _sixth_ +mail, which the Sunday regulations of the Edinburgh Office prevented +being passed through that medium, might be sent by the mail-coach to +Carlisle, while a supplementary coach should travel every sixth night +between Carlisle and Glasgow. This was done, and the result was the +saving of an entire day between London and Glasgow. The other mails +continued, as usual, for twelve months longer, it having taken the +authorities the whole of that time to discover that the five mails, +which required _five_ days to reach Glasgow by way of Edinburgh, might, +like the sixth, be carried by way of Carlisle, in _four_ days. Dr. +Cleland, however, does not seem to have perceived that there might be +some other reason for adhering to the old route, such as increased +outlay, &c. + +[65] _Life of Robert Owen._ _Written by himself._ London, 1857. + +[66] Smiles' _Lives of the Engineers_. + +[67] _Ibid._ + +[68] _History of England during the Thirty Years' Peace_, vol. i. p. +257. + +[69] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 62. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE. + + +It must not be supposed that the improvements in mail-conveyance were +the only beneficial changes introduced into the Post-Office during the +fifty years which we have designated as the mail-coach era. It is true +that, compared with the progress of the country in many other respects, +the period might be termed uneventful. Still, there are incidental +changes to chronicle of some importance in themselves, and likewise +important in their bearing on the present position of the Post-Office. +If we retrace our steps to the year 1792, we shall find, for instance, +that in that year an entirely new branch of business was commenced at +the General Post-Office. We refer to the origin of the Money-Order +establishment. The beginnings of this system, which, as the reader must +be aware, has of late years assumed gigantic proportions, were simple +and unassuming in the extreme. The Government of the day had expressed a +desire for the establishment of a medium by which soldiers and sailors +might transmit to their homes such small sums as they could manage to +save for that purpose. Three officers of the Post-Office jointly +submitted a scheme to make a part of the Post-Office machinery available +in this direction, and a monopoly was readily conceded to them. +The undertaking was further favoured with the sanction of the +Postmasters-General. The designation of the firm was to be "Stow & Co.," +each of the three partners agreeing to find a thousand pounds capital. +The stipulations made were, that the business should be carried on at +the cost and at the risk of the originators, and that they, in return, +should receive the profits. It was agreed, also, that they should enjoy +the privilege of sending all their correspondence free of postage--no +inconsiderable item saved to them. Contrary to anticipations, the +proceeds were considerable--not so much on account of the number of +transactions, as on the high commission that was charged for the +money-orders. Their terms were eightpence for every pound; but if the +sum exceeded two pounds, a stamp-duty of one shilling was levied by +Government in addition. No order could be issued for more than five +guineas; and the charge for that sum amounted to four shillings and +sixpence, or nearly five per cent. When it is considered that the +expense did not end here, but that a letter containing a money-order was +subjected to _double postage_, it cannot be wondered at that those who +dealt with the three monopolists were few in number, and only persons +under a positive necessity to remit money speedily. Such a system, it +will be admitted, could not of itself be expected to foster trade. When +the general public were admitted to the benefits of the Money-order +Office--as they were some few years after the establishment of the +office--it does not appear that the business was greatly increased. +Almost from the commencement, the managers drew yearly proceeds, which +varied but slightly from year to year, averaging about 200_l._ each. +While, on the one hand, this office was seen to be a most useful +institution, good in principle, and likely, if properly managed, to +contribute largely to the general revenue of the Post-Office; on the +other hand, it was clearly stationary, if not retrograde in its +movements. In 1834, the attention of practical men was more immediately +called to the question by a return which was asked for by the House of +Commons, for a detailed account of the poundage, &c. on money-orders of +each provincial post-office, and the purpose or purposes to which the +monies were applied. The Postmaster-General replied, that the +Money-order Office was a private establishment, worked by private +capital, under his sanction; but he could give no returns, because the +accounts were not under his control. In 1838, a new Postmaster-General, +Lord Lichfield, sought and obtained the consent of the Treasury to +convert the Office into a branch under his immediate direction. In that +year the chief Money-order Office commenced business in two small rooms +at the north end of St. Martin's-le-Grand, with a staff of three clerks. +Though the charges were reduced to a commission of sixpence for sums +under two pounds, and of one shilling and sixpence for sums up to five +pounds, the new branch was worked at a loss, owing to the high rates of +postage and the double payment to which letters containing enclosures +were subjected. After the introduction of penny postage, the change was +so marked, that the immense success of this branch establishment may be +considered as entirely owing to the reduction of postage-rates. Had the +penny-postage scheme done no more for the nation than assisted the +people in the exercise of a timely prudence and frugality, stimulating +them, as it can be proved, to self-denial and benevolence, it would have +done much. But we are anticipating an important era. Soon after the +passing of the Penny-postage Act, the commission on money-orders was +reduced to threepence instead of sixpence, and sixpence for any amount +above two pounds and under five pounds. In 1840, the number of +money-order transactions had increased to thousands, in the place of +hundreds under the old _régime_. The money passed through the office in +the advent year of cheap postage amounted to nearly half a million +sterling, the Post-Office commission on the sum exceeding 6,000_l._ The +rate of increase, subsequently, may best be shown by taking a month's +work ten years afterwards. Thus, during one month of 1850, twice as many +orders were taken out and paid as were issued and paid during 1840, the +particulars of which year were given above. The same rate of increase +has continued up to the present moment. During the year 1862, the number +of orders had, in round numbers, risen to more than seven and a half +millions, or a money-value exceeding sixteen millions sterling, the +commission on the whole amounting to more than one hundred and +thirty-six thousand pounds.[70] + +By the statute of Queen Anne, letters might be brought from abroad by +_private ships_ under certain distinctly-specified regulations. On the +contrary, no law existed enabling the Postmaster-General to _send_ bags +of letters by the same medium until 1799, when an Act was passed with +this object. Masters of such ships refusing to take bags were subjected +to heavy penalties.[71] The postage of letters so sent (on account of +the slowness of transit in the majority of cases) was fixed at half the +usual rates. This Act is the foundation of the ship-letter system, by +means of which, besides the regular packet communication, letters are +forwarded to all parts of the world. At the same period the Government +rigorously adhered to the law as laid down with regard to letters +_brought_ by private vessels. A case was tried in 1806 in the Court of +King's Bench--"King _v._ Wilson"--in which the defendant--a merchant who +had had letters brought from the Continent in a ship of his own, and +pleaded that he had a right to do so--was cast in heavy damages, and +told that "all and every such letters, as well as others," must pass +through the Post-Office in the usual way. + +In the year 1814, the business of the Post-Office had increased so +greatly, that an agitation was commenced with the object of securing +better accommodation for its despatch than was afforded by the office in +Lombard Street. The first General Post-Office was opened in Cloak Lane, +near Dowgate Hill, and removed from thence to the Black Swan in +Bishopsgate Street. After the Great Fire of 1666, a General Office was +opened in Covent Garden, but it was soon removed to Lombard Street, to a +house which had been the residence of Sir Robert Viner, once Lord Mayor +of London. It was now proposed that a large and commodious building +should be specially erected in some central part of the City, and the +business once more transferred. In the Session of 1814 we find a Mr. +Butterworth presenting a petition to the House of Commons from four +thousand London merchants, in favour of an early removal of the +Post-Office from Lombard Street. He was assured, he said, that the +present office "was so close and confined, as to be injurious to the +health of those concerned;" he further stated, that "two guineas were +expended weekly for vinegar to fumigate the rooms and prevent infectious +fevers." Another hon. member stated that the access to the office was so +narrow and difficult, that the mail-coaches were prevented from getting +up to it to take the letter-bags. It is curious to note that even this +change was contested. Counter-petitions were presented to Parliament, +stating that the Lombard Street office was convenient enough, and that +the movement was got up by interested parties. Many years passed before +the discussions ended and the preliminary arrangements were made. +Nothing could better serve to show the stationary character of the +Post-Office than the fact that, year by year, and in the opinion of the +authorities, the Lombard Street establishment sufficed for its wants and +requirements. In 1825, however, Government acquiesced in the views of +the great majority of London residents, and St. Martin's-le-Grand--the +site of an ancient convent and sanctuary--was chosen for a large new +building, to be erected from designs by Sir R. Smirke. It was five +years in course of erection, and opened for the transaction of business +on the 25th of September, 1829. The building is of the Grecian-Ionic +order, and is one of the handsomest public structures in London. The +basement is of granite, but the edifice itself, which is 400 feet in +length and 80 feet in width, is built of brick, faced all round with +Portland stone. In the centre is a grand portico with fluted columns, +leading to the great hall, which forms a public thoroughfare from St. +Martin's-le-Grand to Foster Lane. + +From the date of the opening of the new General Post-Office, +improvements were proposed and carried out very earnestly. Under the +Duke of Richmond, reforms in the establishment set in with considerable +vigour.[72] He seems to have been the first Postmaster-General during +the present century who thought the accommodation which the Post-Office +gave to the public was really of a restrictive nature; that more +facility might easily be given to the public; and that the system of +management was an erroneous one. In 1834, the Duke of Richmond submitted +a list of improvements to the Treasury Lords, in which there were at +least thirty substantial measures of reform proposed. It is true that +many of these measures had been strongly recommended to him by the +Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry, who had sat yearly on the +Post-Office and other revenue branches of the public service. The +previous policy, however, of the authorities was to put on a bold front +against any recommendations not originating with themselves. The Duke of +Richmond had considerably less of this feeling than some of his +predecessors. Thus, to take the principal measure of reform concluded in +his time--namely, the complete amalgamation of the Scotch and Irish +Offices with the English Post-Office--we find that the twenty-third +report of the Commissioners, signed by "Wallace," W. J. Lushington, +Henry Berens, and J. P. Dickenson, spoke strongly on the inadequacy "of +the present system of administration to reach the different parts of the +country," and urging the expediency "of providing against any more +conflict of opinion, and of securing a more extended co-operation, as +well as unity of design, in the management of the distinct Offices of +England, Scotland, and Ireland." Again, in 1831, on the recommendation +of the Commission, the Postmaster-General ordered that the boundaries of +the London district post--which, in 1801, became a "Twopenny Post," and +letters for which post, if delivered beyond the boundaries of the cities +of London and Westminster and the borough of Southwark, were charged +threepence--should now be extended to include all places within _three_ +miles of the General Post-Office. Two years afterwards, on the +recommendation of another Commission, the limits of the "Twopenny Post" +were again extended to places not exceeding _twelve_ miles from St. +Martin's-le-Grand, and this arrangement continued till the time of +uniform penny postage. The Duke of Richmond likewise appointed a daily +post to France, established a number of new mail-coaches, and abolished, +in great part, the system of paying the clerks, &c. of the Post-Office +by fees, substituting fixed salaries in each case.[73] + +In 1830, on the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, +the mails of the district were consigned to the new company for +transmission. The railway system developed but slowly, exerting little +influence on Post-Office arrangements for the first few years. After +public attention had been attracted to railways, many proposals were +thrown out for the more quick transmission of mails, to the supercession +of the mail-coach. One writer suggested the employment of balloons. +Professor Babbage threw out suggestions, in his _Economy of Machinery +and Manufactures_, 1832, pp. 218-221, deserving more attention, because +in them we see shadowed forth two at least of the greatest enterprises +of our time. After proceeding to show, in a manner which must have been +interesting to the post-reformers of 1839-40, that if the cost of +letter-carrying could be reduced, the result might be (if the +Post-Office people chose) a cheaper rate of postage and a corresponding +increase in the number of letters, he proceeded to expound a scheme +which, though vague, was described in words extremely interesting, +seeing that he wrote long anterior to the time of the electric +telegraph. Imagine, says he, a series of high pillars erected at +frequent intervals, as nearly as possible in a straight line between two +post-towns. An iron or steel wire of some thickness must be stretched +over proper supports, fixed on these pillars, and terminating at the +end, say of four or five miles, in a very strong support, by which the +whole may be stretched. He proposed to call each of these places +station-houses, where a man should be in attendance. A narrow +cylindrical tin case, to contain bags or letters, might be suspended on +two wheels rolling upon the wire, whilst an endless wire of smaller size +might be made to pass over two drums, one at each end, by which means +the cylinder could be moved by the person at the station. Much more of +the details follow, and our author thus concludes:--"The difficulties +are obvious; but if these were overcome, it would present many +advantages besides velocity." _We might have two or three deliveries of +letters[74] every day_; we might send expresses at any moment; and "it +is not impossible that a stretched wire might itself be made available +for a _species of telegraphic communication yet more rapid_." After the +first few years of railways, all other speculators quietly withdrew into +the shade. In the Post-Office, towards 1838 and 1839, the influence of +railways promised soon to be paramount, and it was now that Acts were +passed in Parliament "to provide for the conveyance of mails by +railways." + +In 1836, Sir Francis Freeling, the Secretary of the Post-Office, died, +when his place was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Maberly. The latter +gentleman, who was an entire stranger to the department, was introduced +into the Post-Office by the Treasury for the purpose, as it was stated, +of zealously carrying out the reforms which another commission of +inquiry had just recommended.[75] On the premature fall of Sir Robert +Peel's first Cabinet, early in the previous year, the Earl of Lichfield +had succeeded to the office of Postmaster-General under Lord Melbourne. +The two new officers set to work in earnest, and succeeded in +inaugurating many important reforms. They got the Money-order Office +transferred, as we have already seen, from private hands to the General +Establishment; they began the system of registering valuable letters; +and, taking advantage of one of Mr. Hill's suggestions, they started a +number of day-mails to the provinces. Towards the close of 1836, the +stamp duty on newspapers was reduced from about threepence-farthing net +to one penny, a reduction which led to an enormous increase in the +number of newspapers passing through the Post-Office. + +Though all these improvements were being carried out, and in many +respects the Post-Office was showing signs of progression, the +authorities still clung with a most unreasonable tenacity to the +accustomed rates of postage, and of necessity to all the evils which +followed in the train of an erroneous fiscal principle. Contrary to all +experience in any other department, the Government obstinately refused +to listen for a moment to any plan for the reduction of postage rates, +or, what is still more remarkable, even to the alleviation of burdens +caused directly by the official arrangements of the period. For example, +Colonel Maberly had no sooner learnt the business of his office, than he +saw very clearly an anomaly which pressed heavily in some cases, and was +felt in all. He at once made a proposition to the Treasury that letters +should be charged in all cases according to the exact distance between +the places where a letter was posted and where delivered, and not +according to the distance through which the Post-Office, _for purposes +of its own_, might choose to send such letters. It may serve to show the +extent to which this strange and anomalous practice was carried, if we +state that the estimated reduction in the postal revenue, had Colonel +Maberly's suggestion been acted upon, was given at no less than +80,000_l._ annually! The Lords of the Treasury promptly refused the +concession. + +In 1837 the average general postage was estimated at 9½_d._ per +letter; exclusive of foreign letters, it was still as high as 8¾_d._ +In the reign of Queen Anne the postage of a letter between London and +Edinburgh was less than half as much as the amount charged at the +accession of Queen Victoria, with macadamized roads, and even with +steam. Notwithstanding the heavy rates, or let us say, on account of +these rates, the net proceeds of the gigantic monopoly of the +Post-Office remained stationary for nearly twenty years. In 1815, the +revenue derivable from the Post-Office was estimated at one and a half +millions sterling. In 1836, the increase on this amount had only been +between three and four thousand pounds, though the population of the +country had increased immensely; knowledge was more diffused, and trade +and commerce had extended in every direction. Had the Post-Office +revenue increased, for instance, in the same ratio as population, we +should have found the proceeds to have been increased by half a million +sterling; or at the ratio of increase of stage-coach travelling, it must +have been two millions sterling. + +The high rates, while they failed to increase the Post-Office revenue, +undoubtedly led to the evasion of the postage altogether. Illicit modes +of conveyance were got up and patronised by some of the principal +merchants in the kingdom. Penal laws were set at defiance, and the +number of contraband letters became enormous. Some carriers were doing +as large a business as the Post-Office itself. On one occasion the +agents of the Post-Office made a seizure, about this time, of eleven +hundred such letters, which were found in a single bag in the warehouse +of certain eminent London carriers. The head of the firm hastened to +seek an interview with the Postmaster-General, and proffered instant +payment of 500_l._ by way of composition for the penalties incurred, and +if proceedings against the firm might not be instituted. The money was +taken, and the letters were all passed through the Post-Office the same +night.[76] For one case which was detected, however, a hundred were +never made known. The evasion of the Post-Office charges extended so far +and so wide that the officials began to declare that any attempt to stop +the smuggling, or even to check it, was as good as hopeless. +Prosecutions for the illicit conveyance of letters had, in fact, ceased +long before the misdemeanours themselves. + +The Post-Office was now ripe for a sweeping change. Mr. Wallace, the +member for Greenock, had frequently called the attention of the House of +Commons to the desirability of a thorough reform in the Post-Office +system. We find him moving at different times for Post-Office returns. +For instance, in August, 1833, Mr. Wallace[77] brought forward a subject +which, he said, "involved a charge of the most serious nature against +the Post-Office--viz. that the Postmaster-General, or some person acting +under his direction, with the view of discovering a fraud upon its +revenue, has been guilty of a felony in the opening of letters." He +moved on this occasion for a return of all and every instruction, +bye-law, or authority, under which postmasters are instructed and +authorized, or have assumed a right, to open, unfold, apply strong +lamp-light to, or use any of them, or any other means whatever, for +ascertaining or reading what may be contained in words or in figures in +any letter, of any size or description, being fastened with a wafer or +wax, or even if totally unfastened by either. At the same time he moved +for a return of all Post-Office prosecutions,[78] especially for the +expenses of a recent case at Stafford. In reply, the Post-Office +answered in a parliamentary paper that no such instruction had ever been +issued from the General Post-Office. Every person in the Post-Office was +required to take the oath prescribed by the Act of 9 Queen Anne, c. 10. +It was added, that "whenever it is noticed that a letter has been put +into the post unfastened, it is invariably sealed with the official seal +for security." In reply to the other return, the Post-Office were forced +to admit that the cost of prosecuting a woman and a female child at the +suit of the Post-Office at the late Stafford Assizes exceeded three +hundred and twenty pounds. + +There can be no question that Mr. Wallace's frequent motions[79] for +Post-Office papers, returns, statistics, detailed accounts of receipt +and expenditure, &c., were the means of drawing special attention to the +Post-Office, and that they were of incalculable service to the progress +of reform and the coming reformer. Mr. Wallace seems to have been +exceedingly honest and straightforward, though he was somewhat blunt and +outspoken. He succeeded in gaining the attention of the mercantile +community, though the Government honoured him with just as much +consideration as he was entitled to from his position, and no more.[80] +In estimating properly the penny-post system, and the labours of those +who inaugurated the reform, the share Mr. Wallace had in it should by no +means be lost sight of. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[70] These items are exclusive of those relating to colonial +money-orders. + +[71] The Government can grant a release to any ship fixed for this +service. It will be remembered by many readers that after the +_Peterhoff_ was taken by Admiral Wilkes of the United States' navy, +February, 1863, the proprietors of the vessel, who had other ships on +the same line (with all of which the Post-Office sent ship-letters), +asked the Government for the protection of a mail-officer. On the +principle of choosing the least of two evils, and rather than take such +a decisive step, which might lead to troubles with the United States' +Government, Earl Russell relieved the _Sea Queen_ from the obligation to +carry the usual mail-bag to Matamoras. + +[72] The Duke of Richmond, though opposed to the Reform Bill, was a +member of Lord Grey's Cabinet. Indefatigable in the service of the +department over which he was placed from 1830 to 1834, he refused at +first to accept of any remuneration of the nature of salary. In +compliance, it is stated, with the strong representation of the Treasury +Lords, as to the objectionable nature of the principle of gratuitous +services by public officers, "which must involve in many cases the +sacrifice of private fortune to official station," His Grace consented +to draw his salary _from that time only_. + +[73] The salary of the Secretary to the Post-Office in the last century +was 600_l._ a-year, and a commission of 2½ per cent. on the produce +of the mail-packets.--(Vide _Pitt's Speeches_, vol. i. p. 53-5, Debate +of June 17, 1783.) In 1830 the Secretary's salary was 300_l._ a-year, +but what with compensations, fees, and other emoluments, his annual +income is stated to have amounted to no less than 4,560_l._--(_Mirror of +Parliament_, 1835). The clerks, according to a Parliamentary return, +were paid small salaries, regulated on different scales, but their +income consisted principally of emoluments derived from other sources. +The _established_ allowances, charged on the public revenue, consisted +of sums for postage, stationery, payment in lieu of apartments, and for +continuing indexes to official books. The remaining emoluments, of +course not chargeable against the revenue, arose from _fees on +deputations_, commissions, expresses, profits on the publication of the +_Shipping_ and _Packet Lists_, payments for franking letters on the +business of the Land-Tax Redemption, and for the Tax-Office, &c. and +from Lloyd's Coffee House for shipping intelligence, &c. There were, +besides, other gratuities for special services. + +[74] We give the following simply to show the vagaries of clever, +scientific men. Speaking of London, the Professor said:--"Perhaps if the +steeples of churches, properly selected, were made use of--as, for +instance, St. Paul's--and if a similar apparatus were placed at the top +of each steeple, and a man to work it during the day, it might be +possible to diminish the expense of the twopenny post, and make +deliveries every half-hour over the greater part of the metropolis." P. +221. + +[75] Evidence of Colonel Maberly before the _Select Committee on +Postage_, 1843, p. 170. + +[76] Mr. Matthew Devonport Hill. 1862. + +[77] _Mirror of Parliament._ Barrow. 1833. + +[78] Now and then the House was enlivened and amused by even Post-Office +discussions. Thus, in the discussion on the above motion, Mr. Cobbett +complained that a letter of his, which "was not only meant to be read, +but to be printed," had never been received by him, nor could he get any +satisfaction out of the Post-Office authorities. He advised all +honourable members who had complaints to make against the Post-Office, +to make them at once to the House, without having any interview with +Ministers. For his own part, with regard to letters being opened, he +felt sure that the Post-Office read all the letters it cared to read; so +he took care to _write accordingly_. He didn't care about his letters +being read, provided they were allowed to go on, as he addressed them. + +_Mr. Secretary Stanley_ (the present Lord Derby) thought it would be a +subject of deep regret that any negligence on the part of the +Post-Office had prevented the elaborate lucubrations of the hon. member +for Oldham from appearing in the _Register_ on the appointed Saturday. + +_Mr. Cobbett._ It never appeared at all. + +Mr. Secretary Stanley was grieved. He felt sure, however, that the hon. +member spends too much time over the midnight oil not to have kept a +copy of his precious essay. He protested against hon. members taking up +the time of the House with complaints against a department which managed +its work very well. + +[79] Some of his motions must have been far from palatable to the powers +that were, and we confess to thinking some of them wanting in charity +and good taste. For example, September 7, 1835, we find him moving for a +return, to supplement another which had been sent in imperfectly drawn +up, which should show "what the special services are for which Sir +Francis Freeling receives 700_l._ a-year, the number of rooms allotted +to him at the General Post-Office, and how often he resides there. Also +the number allotted to the Under-Secretary; whether the whole or part, +and what parts are furnished at the public expense; also the annual sum +for coals and candles, for servants, &c.; also the probable expense of +expresses, messengers, and runners, passing between the Post-Office and +the Secretary at his private residence," and a number of other items +still more trifling. + +[80] _The Quarterly Review_, for October, 1839, speaking of his motions +for different papers, says, "What _grounds_ he had for making them could +only be imagined. They were, in fact, the kind of random motions with +which a member _fishes for abuses, but is still more anxious to catch +notoriety_." The italics are not ours. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SIR ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE. + + +Miss Martineau, in her history of the _Thirty Years' Peace_, narrates a +somewhat romantic incident to account for Mr. Hill's original relation +to our subject, tracing the fiscal reform with which his name is +indissolubly connected to the "neighbourly shilling" well laid out of a +"pedestrian traveller in the Lake District." Unluckily for the +historian, the incident never happened to Mr. Hill. The repeated motions +of Mr. Wallace in the House of Commons are proved beyond dispute to have +brought home the subject to the consideration of many thoughtful minds, +and amongst those, to one who had scholarly leisure and philosophical +ingenuity to bring to its service. + +Born in 1795, and for many years a tutor in his father's school near +Birmingham, Mr. Rowland Hill was, at this time, the secretary of the +Commissioners for conducting the Colonization of South Australia, upon +the plan of Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield. At this post, according to the +testimony of the commissioners themselves, Mr. Hill laboured +unweariedly, "evincing," as they said, "considerable powers of +organization." Mr. Hill, in one place,[81] gives a clear account of the +way he prepared himself for the work he took in hand, when once his +attention was arrested by the subject. "The first thing I did was to +read very carefully all the reports on post-office subjects. I then put +myself in communication with the hon. member for Greenock, who kindly +afforded me much assistance. I then applied to the Post-Office for +information, with which Lord Lichfield was so good as to supply me. +These were the means I took to make myself acquainted with the +subject." In January, 1837, Mr. Hill published[82] the results of his +investigations, and embodied his scheme in a pamphlet entitled _Post +Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability_. This, the first +edition, was circulated privately amongst members of the legislature and +official men; the second edition, published two months afterwards, being +the first given to the world. The pamphlet, of which we will here +attempt a _résumé_, immediately created a sensation; especially so in +the mercantile world. Mr. Hill may be said to have started with the +facts to which we have already adverted[83], namely, that the +Post-Office was not progressing like other great interests; that its +revenue, within the past twenty years, instead of increasing, had +actually diminished, though the increase of population had been six +millions, and the increase in trade and commerce had been proportionate. +The increase in the ratio of stage-coach travellers was still more +clear; but this fact need not be pressed, especially as one smart +quarterly reviewer answered, that, of course, the more men travelled, +the less need of writing. + +From the data which Mr. Hill was enabled to gather--for accounts of any +sort were not kept as accurately at the Post-Office then as now, and +there were no accounts of the number of inland letters--he estimated the +number of letters passing through the post. He then took the expenses of +management and analysed the gross total amount. He proved pretty +clearly, and as nearly as necessary, that the _primary distribution_, as +he termed the cost of receiving and delivering the letters, and also +the cost of transit, took two-thirds of the total cost of the management +of the Post-Office. Of this sum, the amount which had to do with the +_distance_ letters were conveyed, Mr. Hill calculated at 144,000_l._ out +of the total postal expenditure of 700,000_l._ Applying to this smaller +sum the estimated number of letters--deducting franks and taking into +account the greater weight of newspapers--he gave the apparent _average_ +cost of conveying each letter as less than one-tenth of a penny. The +conclusion to which he came from this calculation of the average cost of +transit was inevitable, and that was, that if the charge must be made +proportionate (except, forsooth, it could be shown how the postage of +one-tenth or one-thirty-sixth of a penny could be collected) it must +clearly be uniform, and for the sake of argument, and not considering +the charge as a tax, or as a tax whose end was drawing near, any packet +of an equal weight might be sent throughout the length and breadth of +the country at precisely the same rate. + +The justice and propriety of a uniform rate was further shown, but in a +smaller degree, by the fact that the relative cost of transmission of +letters under the old system was not always dependent on the distance +the mails were carried. Thus, the Edinburgh mail, the longest and most +important of all, cost 5_l._ for each journey. Calculating the +proportionate weight of bags, letters, and newspapers, Mr. Hill[84] +arrived at the absolute cost of carrying a newspaper of an average +weight of 1½ oz. at one-sixth of a penny, and that of a letter of an +average weight of ¼ oz. at one-thirty-sixth of a penny. These sums +being the full cost for the whole distance, Mr. Hill assumed, fairly +enough, that the same rating would do for any place on the road. It was +admitted on all hands, that the chief labour was expended in making up, +opening, and delivering the mails; therefore the fact whether it was +carried one mile or a hundred made comparatively little difference in +the expenditure of the office. The expenses and trouble being much the +same, perhaps _even less_ at Edinburgh than at some intermediate point, +why should the charges be so different? But the case could be made still +stronger. The mail for Louth, containing as it did comparatively few +letters, cost the Post-Office authorities, as the simple expense of +transit, one penny-farthing per letter. Thus, an Edinburgh letter, +costing the Post-Office an infinitesimal fraction of a farthing, was +charged one shilling and three-halfpence to the public, while a letter +for Louth, costing the Post-Office fifty times as much, was charged to +the public at the rate of tenpence! Nothing was clearer, therefore, that +if Mr. Hill's propositions were opposed (and his opponents did not +advocate the payment according to the actual cost of transit), that +those who were adverse to them must fall into the absurdity of +recognising as just an arrangement which charged the highest price for +the cheapest business! At first sight it looked extravagant, that +persons residing at Penzance or near the Giant's Causeway, at Watford or +Wick, should pay equal postage for their letters. The intrinsic _value_ +of the conveyance of a letter, it must be admitted, is a very different +thing from its _cost_, the value being exactly equal to the time, +trouble, and expense saved to the correspondents, of which, perhaps, the +only _measure_ appeared to be the actual distance. Looked at more +narrowly, however, in the clear light of Mr. Hill's investigations, it +became obvious that it was really "a nearer approximation to perfect +justice"[85] to allow distant places to feel the benefits of the +measure; passing over the little inequalities to which it might give +rise; while all might pay such a sum as would cover the expenses in each +and every case.[86] + +Mr. Hill succeeded likewise in proving many of the facts adverted to in +the preceding chapter. He showed that the high rates were so excessive +(not only varied according to distance, but doubled if there was an +enclosure, with _fourfold_ postage if the letter exceeded an ounce in +weight) as greatly to diminish, where they did not absolutely prevent, +correspondence. Not only so, but the high rate created an illicit +traffic, involving all classes of the country in the meshes of a +systematically clandestine trade. These facts and their results on the +public revenue shine out of the pamphlet as clear as noonday. + +But this was not all. The expenses of the department, or the _secondary +distribution_, might be much reduced by simplifications in the various +processes. The existing system resulted in a complicated system of +accounts, involving great waste of time as well as offering inducements +to fraud. The daily work of exposing letters to a strong light, in order +to ascertain their contents, also offered a constant temptation to the +violation of the first duty of the officers of the State, in respect to +the sanctity of correspondence. If, instead of charging letters +according to the number of sheets or scraps of paper, a weight should be +fixed, below which, whatever the contents of a letter, a certain rate be +charged, much trouble would be saved to the office, not to speak of any +higher reason. Again, he suggested that if anything could be done to +expedite the delivery of letters by doing away with the collection of +postage from door to door, a great object would be gained; that five or +six times the number of letters might be delivered with the existing +machinery, and this even in less time than under the old system. The +only requisite was, that some plan for the prepayment of letters should +be devised, so that the Post-Office might be relieved from the duty of +charging, debiting, &c. and the letter-carriers from collecting the +postage. The Post-Office authorities had had the question of prepayment, +by means of some kind of stamp or stamped covers, under consideration +prior to this time. The Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry deliberated +on the measure in the early part of 1837 (after Mr. Charles Knight had +suggested a penny stamp, or stamped cover, for collecting the now +reduced postage on newspapers), considering it very favourably. Hence it +arose that that part of the proposals relating to prepayment by stamped +labels or covers, formed part of Mr. Hill's scheme, and was considered +with it. + +Mr. Hill, in his able pamphlet, exhausted the subject. By a variety of +arguments, he urged upon the nation a trial of his plans--begged for an +unobstructed and cheap circulation of letters, expressing his most +deliberate conviction,[87] that the Post-Office, "rendered feeble and +inefficient by erroneous financial arrangements," was "capable of +performing a distinguished part in the great work of national +education," and of becoming a benefaction and blessing to mankind. He +left the following proposals to the judgment of the nation:--(1) A large +diminution in the rates of postage, say even to one penny per letter +weighing not more than half an ounce. (2) Increased speed in the +delivery of letters. (3) More frequent opportunities for the despatch of +letters. And (4) Simplification in the operations of the Post-Office, +with the object of economy in the management. The fundamental feature in +the new scheme was, of course, the proposal that the rate of postage +should be uniform, and charged according to weight. + +No wonder that the scheme, of which, in our own order, we have just +attempted an outline, roused feelings of delight and approbation from +the people at large, throughout the length and breadth of the land. +Still less is it a matter of surprise that the Government and the +Post-Office authorities, in charge of the revenue, should stand aghast +at the prospect of being called upon to sanction what they considered so +suicidal a policy. Lord Lichfield, the Postmaster-General at the time, +speaking for the Post-Office authorities, as to its practicability, +described the proposal in the House of Lords,[88] "of all the wild and +visionary schemes which I have ever heard of, it is the most +extravagant." On a subsequent occasion, his opinion having been +subjected for six months to the mellowing influence of time, he is less +confident, but says that, if the plan succeeds (in the anticipated +increase of letters), "the walls of the Post-Office would burst--the +whole area on which the building stands would not be large enough to +receive the clerks and the letters."[89] On the one side, many +well-known names[90] were ranked in opposition, who believed that the +scheme, among other drawbacks, would not only absorb the existing +revenue, but would have to be supported by a ruinous subsidy from the +Exchequer. On the other side of the question, however, there were many +intelligent writers and great statesmen ready to advocate the sacrifice +of revenue altogether, if necessary, rather than not have the reform; +while an immense number believed (and Mr. Hill himself shared in this +belief) that the diminution would only be temporary, and should be +regarded as an _outlay_ which, in the course of years, would yield +enormous profits. "Suppose even an average yearly loss of a million for +ten years," says a celebrated economist of the period; "it is but half +what the country has paid for the abolition of slavery, without the +possibility of any money return. Treat the deficit as an outlay of +capital. Even if the hope of ultimate profit should altogether fail, let +us recur to some other tax ... any tax but this, certain that none can +operate so fatally on all the other sources of revenue. Letters are the +_primordia rerum_ of the commercial world. To tax them at all is +condemned by those who are best acquainted with the operations of +finance." Nor was Mr. Hill to be cried down. He admitted, as we have +said, that his plans, if carried out, would result in a diminution of +revenue for a few years to come. On the reliable _data_ which he had +collected, he calculated that, for the first year, this decrease might +extend to as much as 300,000_l._; but that the scheme would pay in the +long run, and pay handsomely, he had no manner of doubt whatever. His +case was strengthened by all previous experience. The number of letters +would increase in the ratio of reduction of postage. In 1827, the Irish +postage-rates were reduced, and an immediate increase of revenue to a +large extent was the result. The rate for ship-letters was reduced in +1834. In four years the number increased in Liverpool from fifteen to +sixty thousand; in Hull from fifteen to fifty thousand. The postage of +letters between Edinburgh and the adjacent towns and villages was +reduced in 1837 from twopence to a penny. In rather more than a year the +number of letters had more than doubled. + +Mr. Hill's proposals were instantly hailed with intense satisfaction, +especially by the mercantile and manufacturing classes of the community. +Whatever might be said in Parliament, public opinion in the country was +decided on the question, that if the success of the new scheme was +sufficient to cover the charges of the Post-Office establishment, it +ought by all means to be carried out. Scarcely ever was public sympathy +so soon and so universally excited in any matter. The progress of the +question of post-reform was in this, and some other respects, very +remarkable, and shows in a strong light how long a kind of extortion may +be borne quietly, and then what may be accomplished by prompt and +conjoint action. Before Mr. Hill's pamphlet appeared no complaints +reached the Legislature of the high rates of postage. During the year in +which it did appear five petitions reached the House of Commons, praying +that its author's scheme might at least be considered. In the next year +320, and in the first half of the year 1839 no fewer than 830, petitions +were presented in favour of the measure. Within a few, the same number +were sent up to the House of Lords. During the agitation, it is +calculated that no less than 5,000 petitions reached St. Stephen's, +including 400 from town-councils and other public bodies--the Common +Council of London, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful +Knowledge, among the number. + +During the month of February, 1838, Mr. Wallace moved for a Select +Committee of the Commons to investigate and report upon Mr. Hill's +proposals; but the Government resisted the motion.[91] They intimated +that the matter was under their consideration, and they intended to deal +with it themselves. But the community were dissatisfied. They continued +to petition till Ministers were compelled to show a greater interest in +the subject, which they did "by proposing little schemes, and +alterations, and devices of their own, which only proved that they were +courageous in one direction, if not in another."[92] Meanwhile, the +"Merchandise Committee"--formed of a number of the most influential and +extensive merchants and bankers in London, with Mr. Bates, of the house +of Baring & Co. for chairman--was called into existence through the +manifested opposition to reasonable reform. Large sums were subscribed +by this committee for the purpose of distributing information on the +subject by means of pamphlets and papers, and for the general purposes +of the agitation. So great and irresistible, in fact, was the pressure +applied in this and other ways, that the Government found it impossible +any longer to refuse an inquiry. A month or two after Mr. Wallace's +motion, Mr. Baring, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed a +Committee "to inquire into the present rates or modes of charging +postage, with a view to such reduction thereof as may be made _without +injury to the revenue_; and for this purpose, to examine especially into +the mode recommended, of charging and collecting postage, in a pamphlet +by Mr. Rowland Hill." It was noticed that most of the members nominated +by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were favourable to the Government, +all but two--Lord Lowther and Sir Thomas Fremantle--having voted for the +Ballot. The Conservatives did not grumble, however, as on this subject +the Government was conservative enough. The Committee sat sixty-three +days, concluding their deliberations in August, 1838. They examined all +the principal officers of the Post-Office and the Stamp Department, and +eighty-three independent witnesses of different pursuits and various +grades. The Post-Office authorities were specially invited to send any +witnesses they might choose; and as the Postmaster-General and the +Secretary of the Post-Office objected to the penny rate as likely to be +ruinous to the revenue, and to the principle of uniformity as unfair and +impossible, we may be certain that the witnesses sent were judiciously +chosen. The examination was by no means _ex parte_, but seems to have +been carried on with the greatest fairness. Those members of the +Committee who were particularly pledged to the protection of the +revenue, as well as Lord Lowther--who had a thorough knowledge of the +subject from having sat on a previous Commission--appear to have missed +no opportunity of sifting the opinions and the statements of each +witness. The members of the Committee did their work, altogether, with +zeal, great discrimination, and ability. The plan and the favourable +witnesses stood the scrutiny with wonderful success; and Mr. Hill +himself bore up, under what George Stephenson regarded as the greatest +crucial test to which mortal man can be subjected, with tact and +firmness, fully proving, in evidence, the soundness of the conclusions +on which judgment had to be passed. + +We may say here, as we have not before referred to the circumstance, +that it was necessary to make it clear to the Committee, the amount of +increase in correspondence necessary to the success of the scheme. In +opposition to the views of official men,[93] Mr. Hill held that a +fivefold increase in the number of letters would suffice to preserve the +existing revenue, and he hazarded a prediction that that increase would +soon be reached. As regarded the means of conveyance, he showed that the +stage-coaches, &c. already in existence could carry twenty-seven times +the number of letters they had ever yet done; and this statement passed +without dispute. The evidence was clear and convincing as to the vast +amount of contraband letters daily conveyed; and no less certainly was +it shown that, if Mr. Hill's schemes were carried out, the temptation to +evasion of postage would be at once abolished, inasmuch as there would +then be no sufficient inducement to resort to illegal mediums. A Glasgow +merchant stated before the Committee, that he knew five manufacturers in +that city whose correspondence was transmitted illegally in the +following proportions, viz.--(1) three to one; (2) eighteen to one; (3) +sixteen to one; (4) eight to one; and (5) fifteen to one. Manchester +merchants--among whom was Mr. Cobden--stated that they had no doubt that +four-fifths of the letters written in that town did not pass through the +Post-Office. No member of the Committee had any idea of the extent to +which the illicit conveyance of letters was carried. A carrier in +Scotland was examined, and confessed to having carried sixty letters +daily, on the average, for a number of years--knew other carriers who +conveyed, on an average, five hundred daily. He assured the Committee +that the smuggling was alone done to save the postage. "There might be +cases when it was more convenient, or done to save time, but the great +object was cheapness." The labouring classes, especially, had no other +reason. "They avail themselves of every possible opportunity for getting +their letters conveyed cheaply or free." In his opinion, the practice +could not be put a stop to until the Post-Office authorities followed +the example that was set them in putting down illicit distillation in +Scotland. "I would reduce the duty, and that would put an end to it, by +bringing it down to the expense of conveyance by carriers and others." +Mr. John Reid--an extensive bookseller and publisher in Glasgow--sent +and received, illicitly, about fifty letters or circulars daily. "I was +not caught," he said, "till I had sent twenty thousand letters, &c. +otherwise than through the post." He constantly sent his letters by +carriers; he also sent and received letters for himself and friends, +inclosed in his booksellers' parcels. Any customer might have his +letters so sent, by simply asking the favour. It also came out in +evidence, that twelve walking-carriers were engaged exclusively in +conveying letters between Birmingham and Walsall and the district, a +penny being charged for each letter. The most curious modes of +procedure, and the oddest expedients[94] for escaping postage, were +exhibited during the sitting of the Committee. One, largely patronized +by mercantile houses, consisted in having a number of circulars printed +on one large sheet, when, on its arrival at a certain town, a mutual +friend or agent would cut it up, and either post or deliver the parts. +Nay, matters had been brought to such a state, that a leading journal, +commenting on the matter of illicit letter-conveyance just previous to +the sittings of the Committee, went the length of saying, that, +"_fortunately_ for trade and commerce, the operation of the Government +monopoly is counteracted by the clandestine conveyance of letters."... +"The means of evasion are so obvious and frequent, and the power of +prevention so ineffectual, that the post has become only the +_extraordinary_, instead of the usual, channel for the conveyance of +letters." Notwithstanding this testimony, the evidence of the +Post-Office officials on this and the other heads of inquiry betrayed +fully the usual degree of official jealousy of interference, and quite +an average amount of official partiality. Thus, Colonel Maberly argued, +that if the postage of letters were reduced to a penny it would not stop +smuggling: in which case they might as well have smuggling under the one +system as the other. But his zeal on this point overcame his discretion. +"For," he continued, "1,000 letters might still be sent as a +coach-parcel for seven shillings, whereas the Post-Office charge for +them would be four guineas." But the gallant colonel seems altogether to +have forgotten that the item of _delivery_ is, after all, the chief item +in all Post-Office charges. A few more examples of the statements of the +authorities may here be given. Thus, the Secretary said, relative to an +increase of letters, that "the poor were not disposed to write letters" +(10,851). He thought that, during the first year, the letters would not +double, even if franking were not abolished (2,949). "If the postage +be reduced to one penny, I think the revenue would not recover +itself for forty or fifty years." Lord Lichfield said that he had +ascertained that each letter then cost "within the smallest fraction of +twopence-halfpenny" (2,795). With regard to the principle of the uniform +rate, Colonel Maberly thought it might be "desirable, but impracticable" +(10,939). "Most excellent for foreign postage, but impracticable for +inland letters" (3,019). He also said that the public would object to +pay _in advance_ whatever the rate (10,932-3). + +The Committee next had their attention called to still more important +facts, viz. that the number of letters conveyed illegally bore no +proportion to the number which were not written at all on account of the +high rates of postage. On the poor the Post-Office charges pressed +grievously, and there seemed no other course open to them than that, if +their letters could not be received without the payment of exorbitant +rates, they must lie in the hands of the authorities. It is only +necessary to compare the income of a labouring man with his pressing +wants to see that it was idle to suppose that he would apply his little +surplus to the enjoyment of post-letters other than in cases of life and +death. The Committee were absolutely flooded with instances in which +the Post-Office charges seriously interfered with the wants and +reasonable enjoyments of the poor. On the general question involved, +nearly all the witnesses, of whatever rank or grade, evidenced that the +public, to an enormous extent, were deterred from writing letters and +sending communications, which otherwise, under a cheaper tariff, they +would write and send. That this part of the case was proved may be +concluded from the language of the Committee themselves:--"The multitude +of transactions which, owing to the high rates of postage, are prevented +from being done, or which, if done, are not announced, is quite +astonishing. Bills for moderate amounts are not drawn; small orders for +goods are not given or received; remittances of money are not +acknowledged; the expediting of goods by sea and land, and the sailing +or arrival of ships not advised; printers do not send their proofs; the +country attorney delays writing to his London agent, the commercial +traveller to his principal, the town-banker to his agent in the country. +In all these, and many other cases, regularity and punctuality is +neglected in attempts to save the expenses of exorbitant rates of +postage." + +On all the other parts of the scheme, and on the scheme itself as a +whole, the Committee spoke no less decisively. Generally and briefly, +they considered that Mr. Hill's strange and startling facts had been +brought out in evidence. They gave their opinion that the rates of +postage were so high as materially to interfere with and prejudice trade +and commerce; that the trading and commercial classes had sought, and +successfully, illicit means of evading the payment of these heavy +charges, and that all classes, for the self-same reason, corresponded +free of postage when possible; that the _rate_ of postage exceeded the +_cost_ of the business in a manifold proportion; and that, altogether, +the existing state of things acted most prejudicially to commerce and to +the social habits and moral condition of the people. They conclude, +therefore,-- + + 1. That the only remedy is a reduction of the rates, the more + frequent despatch of letters, and additional deliveries. + + 2. That the extension of railways makes these changes urgently + necessary. + + 3. That a _moderate_ reduction in the rates would occasion loss, + without diminishing the peculiar evils of the present state of + things, or giving rise to much increased correspondence, and, + + 4. That the principle of a low, uniform rate, is _just in itself_, + and when combined with prepayment and collection by stamp, would be + exceedingly convenient and highly satisfactory to the public. + +So far, their finding, point by point, was in favour of Mr. Hill's +scheme. They reported further that, in their _opinion_, the +establishment of a penny rate would not, after a temporary depression, +result in any ultimate loss to the revenue. As, however, the terms of +their appointment precluded them from recommending any plan which +involved an immediate loss, they restricted themselves to suggesting an +uniform _twopenny_ rate. + +The Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry,--consisting of Lord Seymour, +Lord Duncannon, and Mr. Labouchere,--who were charged with an "inquiry +into the management of the Post-Office," had already concluded their +sittings, and had decided upon recommending Mr. Hill's plan as far as it +concerned the "twopenny post" department; that being the only branch +then under consideration. "We propose," say they, and the words are +significant, "that the distinction in the rates and districts, which now +applies to letters delivered in the twopenny and threepenny post, shall +not in any way affect correspondence transmitted under stamped covers; +and that any letter not exceeding half an ounce shall be conveyed free +within the metropolis, and the district to which the town and country +deliveries extend, _if inclosed in an envelope bearing a penny stamp_." + +With these important recommendations in its favour, the scheme was +submitted to Parliament. It had met with so much approval, and the +subject seemed so important, that the Government took charge of the +measure. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had the project of a uniform +rate of postage embodied in a Bill, which passed in the session of 1839. +This Act, which was affirmed by a majority of 102 members, conferred +temporarily the necessary powers on the Lords of the Treasury. Many of +the Conservative party opposed the Government proposals. Sir Robert +Peel's chief argument against the change was, that it would necessitate +a resort to a direct tax on income. In order, however, to strengthen the +hands of the Government, now that the question was narrowed in all minds +to the single one of revenue, the majority in the House of Commons +pledged themselves to vote for some _substituted_ tax, if, upon +experiment, any substitute should be needed.--(_Hansard_, vol. xlix.) + +No one out of Parliament, at any rate, who read Mr. Hill's pamphlet +attentively, but was convinced of the practicability of the measure, and +the careful perusal of the evidence collected by the Committee +appointed, determined any waverer as to the necessity of its being +adopted. Still there existed serious misgivings in the country as to the +steps which the Melbourne administration must soon announce. That there +were some few objections to Mr. Hill's plan, and some difficulties about +it, cannot be doubted; the nation at large had decided for it, however, +and some of the principal men in the country, not favourable to the +existing ministry, decided for it also. The Duke of Wellington was +"disposed to admit that that which was called Mr. R. Hill's plan, was, +if it was adopted as it was proposed, of all the plans, that which was +most likely to be successful."[95] The Duke of Richmond pressed upon the +ministers, that if they gave their sanction to any uniform plan, it +should be to Mr. Hill's, "for that alone, and not the twopenny postage, +seems to me to give hope of ultimate success."[96] + +On the 12th of November, 1839, the Lords of the Treasury issued a +minute, under the authority of the Act before referred to, reducing the +postage of all inland letters to the uniform rate of _fourpence_. + +The country, generally, was greatly dissatisfied. Mr. Hill's measure was +what was required, and the fourpenny rate was in no respect his plan, +nor did it even touch the question of the _practicability_ of the +uniform postage proposed by the reformer. This quarter measure of the +Government did not even suffice to exhibit the benefits of a low rate of +postage; was consequently a most improper test, and likely to be +prejudicial to the interest of the penny post. The increase of letters +was in no place more than fifty per cent., whilst the decrease in the +Post-Office revenue was at the rate of forty per cent. In London, for +instance, the diminution of receipts was at the lowest computation, +450_l._ a day, and the number of letters were only just doubled. The +plan did not abolish the franking system. It did not abolish smuggling, +inasmuch as a letter might be sent illicitly for a penny. How, +therefore, it was argued, can it be expected that in the interior of the +country, at any rate, and without Custom House officers, or any other +responsible officers, a duty of 300 per cent. can be levied on the +carriage of an article so easily transported as a letter? For a few +weeks all was dissatisfaction. More than that, business men trembled for +the success of the whole scheme, and lest the Government should return +to the old _régime_. The Treasury Lords were convinced, however, that +they had made a mistake, and they resolved to give the measure a full +and fair trial. On the 10th of January, 1840, another minute was issued, +ordering the adoption of a uniform penny rate. By adopting Mr. Hill's +plan, the Government simply placed itself in the position of a trader, +who declared that he intended for a time to be satisfied with a part of +his former profits; but hoped eventually to secure himself against loss +by increased business, greater attractiveness, and diminished cost +of management. In six months, the policy of the Government was +acknowledged on all hands to be the correct one, for on the 10th of +August the Treasury had its minute confirmed by the Statute 3 & 4 Vict. +chap. 96. The _Quarterly Review_,[97] as an exception to the general +feeling, stigmatizes the measure "as one of the most inconsiderate jumps +in the dark ever made by that very inconsiderate assembly." It is +"distinguished by weakness and rashness," &c. But the judgment of +posterity is sadly against the reviewer. + +A Treasury appointment was given to Mr. Hill to enable him to work out +his plans, or, in the wording of the said appointment, "to assist in +carrying into effect the penny postage." He only held his office about +two years, for when the Conservative party came into power in 1841, he +was politely bowed out of it on the plea that his work was finished; +that his nursling had found its legs, and might now be taken into the +peculiar care of the Post-Office authorities themselves. A study of the +past history of the Post-Office might have enlightened the minds of the +members of the Executive Government as to the advisability or otherwise, +of leaving entirely the progress of Post-Office improvement in the hands +of the authorities. Mr. Hill intreated the new premier, Sir Robert Peel, +to let him remain at any pecuniary sacrifice to himself, but +his entreaties were unavailing. He must watch his scheme from a +distance.[98] + +Speaking of the hindrances which Mr. Hill met with in official circles, +we are reminded of a pamphlet which appeared shortly after this period, +evidently from some Post-Office official, "_On the Administration of the +Post-Office_." This precious pamphlet has been long consigned to +well-merited oblivion, and we only rescue it for a moment from the limbo +of all worthless things, to show the spirit which then actuated some of +those in office. It reminds us forcibly of the criticism which Mr. +Palmer's scheme called forth from the leading spirits of the Post-Office +of his day. The pamphlet, illogical and abusive throughout, laid it down +as a principle that "the Post-Office is not _under any obligation_ to +convey the correspondence of the public." Again, that "the Post-Office +is a Government monopoly for the benefit of the public revenue, and +exists for the _sole_ purpose of profit." Then there are praises for the +old, and abuses for the new _régime_. "The celerity, the certainty, the +security with which so vast a machine executed such an infinite +complexity of details, were truly admirable!" Mr. Hill comes in for a +good share of detraction. He is counselled to leave his "pet scheme" to +the "practical men" of the Post-Office. In the following flowery +language he is recommended "to behold it (his project) as a spectator +from the shore, viewing his little bark in safety, navigated by those +who are practically best acquainted with the chart, wind, and waves." + +Mr. Hill's popularity outside the Post-Office contrasted favourably with +the estimation in which he was held inside. The whole community had +become impressed with the value of his measures and the important +services he had rendered. Spurred on to exertions by the treatment he +had received at the hands of an administration, which, to use the fine +expression of Lord Halifax in reference to another public benefactor, +"refused to supply the oil for a lamp which gave so much light," a +public subscription was opened throughout the country, which, joined in +by all classes, was quickly represented by a handsome sum. The money, +which amounted to over thirteen thousand pounds, and which was only +considered an expression of national gratitude, and by no means a full +requital for his services, was presented to him at a public banquet got +up in London under the auspices of the "Merchandise Committee." In an +address which accompanied the testimonial, Mr. Hill's measure of reform +was pronounced one "which had opened the blessings of a free +correspondence to the teacher of religion, the man of science +and literature, the merchant and trader, and the whole British +nation--especially the poorest and most defenceless portions of it--a +measure which is the greatest boon conferred in modern times on all the +social interests of the civilized world." Mr. Hill's bearing on the +occasion in question is described as most modest and unassuming. He +expressed his gratitude for the national testimonial in few but telling +phrases. He delicately alluded to his proscription from office, +regretting that he could not watch the progress of his measure narrowly, +and pointed out improvements which were still necessary to give complete +efficiency to his reform. Mr. Hill gave ample credit to those who had +sustained him in his efforts to carry his plans through Parliament, and +especially named Messrs. Wallace and Warburton, members of the special +Committee of 1838, Mr. Baring the Ex-chancellor of the Exchequer, and +Lords Ashburton and Brougham. + +We shall have frequent occasion as we advance, to mention Mr. Hill's +name in connexion with Post-Office history during the past twenty years; +but we may here notice the remaining particulars of Mr. Hill's +_personal_ history. On the restoration of the Whigs to power in 1846, +Mr. Hill was brought back into office, or rather first placed in office +at St. Martin's-le-Grand, as secretary to the Postmaster-General, the +present Marquis of Clanricarde. In 1854, on Colonel Maberly's removal to +the Audit Office, Mr. Hill attained the deserved honour of Secretary to +the Post-Office under the late Lord Canning--the highest fixed +appointment in the department, and second only in responsibility to that +of Postmaster-General. In 1860 Mr. Hill was further honoured with the +approval of his sovereign, and few will question it, when we say it was +a worthy exercise of the royal prerogative, when he was called to +receive the dignity of Knight Commander of the Bath. + +The arduous exertions, extending over a quarter of a century, and the +ever-increasing duties of the Secretary of the Post-Office have, within +the last few years, begun to tell upon the physical system of Sir +Rowland Hill, and have more than once caused him to absent himself from +the post which he has made so honourable and responsible. During the +autumn of last year he obtained leave of absence from active duty for +six months--his place being filled by Mr. Tilley, the senior assistant +secretary of the Post-Office--a step which was generally understood to +be preparatory to his resignation, should no improvement be manifest in +his health. Now (March, 1864) his retirement is announced, and he leaves +us and passes "not into obscurity, but into deserved repose." May he be +long spared to enjoy the rest and quiet which he has so well earned, and +the gratitude and sympathy which must be universally felt for him. His +early work, that would have been Herculean, even if he had not been +assailed by foes without and foes within, must have caused him immense +labour of hand and labour of brain; the carrying out also of many +important subsequent measures, which may be said to have followed as +necessary corollaries of his great reform, must have occasioned him an +amount of bodily and mental toil and excitement of which the "roll of +common men" have neither experience nor conception. Not to speak of his +services to commerce, Sir Rowland Hill, more than any living +individual, has succeeded in drawing close the domestic ties of the +nation, and extending in innumerable ways the best interests of social +life. He deserves well of his country, and we are only giving expression +to a feeling which is uppermost at this moment in most men's minds, when +we add the hope that a debt of gratitude may soon be discharged by some +gracious national tribute.[99] + +The Executive Government, on its part, has shown a just and highly +appreciative estimate of Sir Rowland Hill's remarkable services in the +provision which has been made for him on his retirement. By a Treasury +minute, dated March 11th, 1864, advantage is taken of the special clause +in the Superannuation Act, relating to extraordinary services, to grant +him a pension of three times the usual retiring allowance. The language +in which this resolution is couched--doubtless from the pen of Mr. +Gladstone--is unusually complimentary for this class of official +documents. After recounting Sir Rowland Hill's eminent services--the +facts of which are based upon a statement just presented by the veteran +reformer himself, (see Appendix H)--and stating the amount of his +pension if treated on the ordinary superannuation allowance, the Lords +of the Treasury say that they consider the present a fitting case for +special arrangement. "Under the circumstances, it may justly be averred +that my Lords are dealing on the present occasion with the case not +merely of a meritorious public servant, but of a benefactor of his race; +and that his fitting reward is to be found not in this or that amount of +pension, but in the grateful recollection of his country. But my Lords +discharge the portion of duty which belongs to them with cordial +satisfaction, in awarding to Sir Rowland Hill for life his full salary +of 2,000_l._ per annum." Lord Palmerston has further given notice that +he will move in the House of Commons, that the pension be continued to +Lady Hill, in the event of her surviving her husband.[100] + +One thing only mars the gracefulness of the minute in question. A vague +and indefinite attempt is made towards partitioning the merit of the +original suggestion of the penny postage scheme between Sir R. Hill and +some other nameless projector or projectors. On the contrary, we have +not been more definitely led to any conclusion in the range of postal +subjects which have claimed our attention, than to the one which gives +to Sir Rowland Hill the entire merit of the suggestion, and the chief +merit in the carrying out, of penny-post reform. It would, of course, +have been impossible to carry out and perfect the system without the +cordial assistance and co-operation of the other principal officers of +the Post-Office; for the past twenty years that assistance seems to have +been faithfully rendered; and Sir Rowland Hill, in retiring, pays a just +tribute to those who have laboured to promote the new measures, and into +whose able hands they have now fallen. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[81] _Select Committee of Postage_, 1843, p. 133. + +[82] Miss Martineau, quoting from the _Political Dictionary_, vol. ii. +p. 563, says that Mr. Hill first offered his scheme to the Government of +Lord Melbourne before it was presented to the country. However this may +be, Mr. Hill makes no mention of the fact in his frequent appearances +before Committees of the House of Commons, &c. + +[83] _Post-Office Reform_, p. 2, third edition. + +[84] _Post-Office Reform_, p. 14, third edition. + +[85] _Our Exemplars, Poor and Rich_, edited by Matthew Davenport Hill. +London, 1851, p. 317. + +[86] _The Westminster Review_, July, 1860, p. 78, in an able but +exceedingly _ex parte_ article on "The Post-Office Monopoly," doubts +whether Mr. Hill's system is a near approximation to perfect justice, +being, in its opinion, "by no means the _summum bonum_ of letter-rates." +"A charge of one penny for the carriage of all letters of a certain +_weight_ within the United Kingdom, irrespective of distance, is +eminently arbitrary."... "No one in London who has written two letters, +one to a friend residing in the same town as himself, and another to one +in Edinburgh, can have failed, in affixing the stamps to them, to +observe the unfairness of charging the same sum for carrying the one 400 +yards and the other 400 miles, when the cost of transmission must in the +one case be so much more than in the other." These quotations plainly +show that Mr. Hill's early arguments have been lost upon the reviewer. +If Mr. Hill demonstrated one thing more plainly than another, it was +that the absolute cost of the transmission of each letter was so +infinitesimally small, that if charged according to that cost, the +postage could not be collected. Besides, it is not certain that the one +letter would cost the Post-Office more than the other. Moreover, to the +sender the value of the conveyance of the local letter was equal to its +cost, or he would have forwarded it by other means. No doubt a strong +argument might be based on these grounds, as to the justice of a lower +rate for letters posted and delivered in the same town. Such a measure +might be supported on Mr. Hill's principles; but the apparent anomaly is +surely no argument against a State monopoly of letter-carrying. + +[87] _Post-Office Reform_, p. 8. + +[88] _Mirror of Parliament_, 15th June, 1837. + +[89] _Ibid._ 18th December, 1837. + +[90] Rev. Sydney Smith, Mr. McCullagh. + +[91] Hansard, xxxviii. p. 1099. + +[92] Miss Martineau, vol. ii. p. 429. + +[93] Lord Lichfield said it would require a twelvefold increase, "and I +maintain," said he, "that our calculations are more likely to be right +than his."--(_Report_, 2821.) + +[94] Mr. Hill related some of these in his pamphlet. Thus, at page 91, +we read:--"Some years ago when it was the practice to write the name of +a Member of Parliament for the purpose of franking a newspaper, a friend +of mine, previous to starting on a tour into Scotland, arranged with his +family a plan of informing them of his progress and state of health, +without putting them to the expense of postage. It was managed thus: he +carried with him a number of old newspapers, one of which he put into +the post daily. The postmark, with the date, showed his progress; and +the state of his health was evinced by the selection of the name, from a +list previously agreed upon, with which the newspaper was franked. 'Sir +Francis Burdett,' I recollect, denoted vigorous health." Better known is +the anecdote of a postal adventure of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, already +adverted to at the commencement of the present chapter. The story is +told originally, in Mr. Hill's pamphlet also:--Once, on the poet's +visits to the Lake district, he halted at the door of a wayside inn at +the moment when the rural postman was delivering a letter to the barmaid +of the place. Upon receiving it she turned it over and over in her hand +and then asked the postage of it. The postman demanded a shilling. +Sighing deeply, however, the girl handed the letter back, saying she was +too poor to pay the required sum. The poet at once offered to pay the +postage, and in spite of some resistance on the part of the girl, which +he deemed quite natural, did so. The messenger had scarcely left the +place, when the young barmaid confessed that she had learnt all she was +likely to learn from the letter; that she had only been practising a +pre-conceived trick: she and her brother having agreed that a few +hieroglyphics on the back of the letter should tell her all she wanted +to know, whilst the letter would contain no writing. "We are so poor," +she added, "that we have invented this manner of corresponding and +franking our letters." + +[95] Select Committee on Postage, 1843. + +[96] _Ibid._ + +[97] October, 1859, Art 9. See also Raikes' _Diary_, vol. iii. + +[98] "Lord Lowther," so Mr. Hill was told, "was a steady friend to Post +reform, and was well acquainted with the department." Without doubt the +new Postmaster-General's feelings, however ridiculous, were consulted in +this matter. Mr. Hill's anxiety for the general scheme, and for +subsequent minor proposals, was quite natural. When refused the Treasury +appointment, he asked to be taken into the Post-Office there to see his +plans worked out. Lord Lowther, when he comes to speak on the proposal, +somewhat indignantly asks the Treasury Lords if "the character and +fortunes of the thousands employed in the Post-Office are to be placed +at the mercy of an _individual_ who confesses that he is 'not very +familiar with the details of the methods now practised.'" "It is easy to +imagine," continued Lord Lowther, "the damage the community might +sustain from _his tampering_ with a vast machine interwoven with all the +details of Government and necessary to the daily habits and events of +this great Empire!" The matter is not one of "detail," but of +"principle;" if their Lordships want this or that carried into +execution, they have only to say so, and Lord Lowther will see that it +is done, "though it may be in opposition to my own opinion." + +[99] We find that Birmingham, at which town Sir Rowland Hill spent some +of the earlier years of his life, has been the first to move in the +matter. At a meeting held March 3, a statue was voted to cost 2,000_l._ +to be placed in the new public hall. A petition to the House of Commons +was likewise adopted. + +[100] This motion has twice been deferred, owing, it is said, to +representations made by members of both sides of the House of Commons. A +few days ago, an influential deputation from the House met the First +Lord of the Treasury at his official residence, the members of which +strongly urged, that in place of the deferred pension to Lady Hill, a +Parliamentary Grant, sufficient though reasonable, be made to Sir +Rowland Hill at once. It is considered certain that, when the House +resumes after Easter, Lord Palmerston will propose a grant, most +probably, of 30,000_l._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EARLY RESULTS OF THE PENNY-POSTAGE SCHEME. + + +There are, of course, two aspects in which to contemplate the measure of +penny-post reform. The first relates to its social, moral, and +commercial results; the second views it in its financial relationship. +When the system had been in operation two years, it was found that the +success of the scheme in its first aspect had far surpassed the most +sanguine expectations ever formed of it by any of its advocates. As a +financial measure, it cannot be said to have succeeded originally. In +this latter respect it disappointed even Mr. Hill, who, though he never +mentioned the date when the revenue derivable from the Post-Office would +be recovered under the new system, was very emphatic in his assurances +that the loss during the first year would not exceed 300,000_l._ +Calculating upon a fourfold increase of letters, in his pamphlet[101] he +estimated the net revenue, after deducting for franks and newspapers, in +round numbers at 1,300,000_l._; a sum only 300,000_l._ less than the +revenue of 1837. We do not say that Mr. Hill originally calculated on +recovering the absolute _net_ revenue by the collection of postage; but +any deficiency which might continue after the scheme was fairly tried, +he expected to see supplied, eventually, by increased productiveness in +other departments of the revenue, which would be benefited by the +stimulus given to commerce by improved communication.[102] Before the +Parliamentary Committee he was equally explicit:[103] when asked, if, +on a fivefold increase, there would still be a deficiency on the net +revenue, he answered in the affirmative, to the extent of, he should +think, 300,000_l._ He again, however, stated his conviction that the +deficit would be made up by the general improvement of trade and +commerce in the country. It is true that events proved that the falling +off in the _gross_ revenue was considerably in excess of all the +calculations which had been made: but even under this head, much may be +said; and in considering the different results of penny postage, we +expect to be able to point out that the scheme had intrinsic qualities +in it, which, under proper treatment, must have made it in all respects +a success. Mr. Hill met another Parliamentary Committee in 1842, when +his recommendations--in their principal features, at any rate--had been +acted upon for nearly two years. In the course of this further +investigation--to the circumstances attending which we shall presently +allude--much information relative to the carrying out of the measure, +its successes, and failures, was elicited. + +It was shown beyond all dispute, that the scheme had almost entirely +prevented breaches of the law, and that if any illicit correspondence +was carried on, it was simply and purely in matters where the question +of speed was involved; that the evils, amounting to social prohibitions, +so prevalent before the change, had been, for the most part, removed. +Commercial transactions, relating even to very small amounts, were now +managed through the post. Small orders were constantly transmitted; +the business of the Money-order Office having increased almost +_twenty-fold_--first, from the reduction of postage in 1840, and then +from the reduction of the fees in November of the same year. These +orders are generally acknowledged. Printers send their proofs without +hesitation;[104] the commercial traveller writes regularly to his +principal, and is enabled for the first time to advise his customers of +his approach; private individuals and public institutions distribute +widely their circulars and their accounts of proceedings to every part +of the land. Better than any account that we might give of the reception +of this boon by the country, and the social and commercial advantages +which were immediately seen to follow from it, we may here give some +account of the correspondence which flowed in upon Mr. Hill between +1840-1842, and which he read to the select committee appointed to try +the merits of his scheme. Ten times the weight of evidence, and far more +striking instances of the advantages of the penny-post scheme might +_now_ be adduced, but it must be remembered that we are here speaking +merely of first results, and when the scheme had been but two years in +operation. Numbers of tradesmen wrote to say how their business had +increased within the two years. One large merchant now sent the whole of +his invoices by post; another increased the number of his "prices +current" by 10,000 per annum. Messrs. Pickford and Co. the carriers, +despatched by post _eight_ times the number of letters posted in 1839; +whilst the letters, had they been liable to be charged as per single +sheet, would have numbered 720,000 in 1842 from this one firm, against +30,000 letters in 1839. In this case we have an exemplification of the +correctness of the argument upon which Mr. Hill built his scheme; for +the increase of money actually paid for postage was at the rate of 33 +per cent. Mr. Charles Knight, the London bookseller, said the penny +postage stimulated every branch of his trade, and brought the country +booksellers into almost daily communication with the London houses. Mr. +Bagster, the publisher of a Polyglot Bible in twenty-four languages, +stated to Mr. Hill that the revision which he was just giving to his +work as it was passing through the press would, on the old system, have +cost him 1,500_l._ in postage alone, and that the Bible could not have +been printed but for the penny post. Secretaries of different benevolent +and literary societies wrote to say how their machinery had been +improved; conductors of educational establishments, how people were +everywhere learning to write for the first time in order to enjoy the +benefits of a free correspondence, and how night-classes for teaching +writing to adults were springing up in all large towns for the +same object. Mr. Stokes, the honorary secretary of the Parker +Society--composed of the principal Church dignitaries and some +intelligent laymen--which has done so much for ecclesiastical literature +by reprinting the works of the early English reformers, stated that the +Society could never have come into existence but for the penny postage. +One of the principal advocates for the repeal of the Corn Laws +subsequently gave it as his opinion, that their objects were achieved +_two years earlier_ than otherwise would have been the case, owing to +the introduction of cheap postage. After a lapse of twenty years, many +more useful societies might be mentioned of which the same could be +said. An interesting letter from the late Professor Henslow, the then +Rector of Hitcham in Suffolk, may be given, as it contains a pretty +accurate estimate of the social advantages accruing to the masses. The +professor had, consequent upon the change at the Post-Office, arranged a +scheme of co-operation for advancing among the landed interest of the +county the progress of agricultural science. After stating that the mere +suggestion of such a thing had involved him in a correspondence which he +could not have sustained if it had not been for the penny postage, he +goes on to say: "To the importance of the penny postage to those who +cultivate science, I can bear most unequivocal testimony, as I am +continually receiving and transmitting a variety of specimens by post. +Among them, you will laugh to hear that I have received three living +carnivorous slugs, which arrived safely in a pill-box! That the penny +postage is an important addition to the comforts of the poor labourer, I +can also testify. From my residence in a neighbourhood where scarcely +any labourers can read, much less write, I am often employed by them as +an amanuensis, and have frequently heard them express their satisfaction +at the facility they enjoy of now corresponding with distant relatives. +The rising generation are learning to write, and a most material +addition to the circulation of letters may soon be expected. Of the vast +domestic comfort which the penny postage has added to homes like my own, +I need say nothing more." Miss Harriet Martineau bore testimony to the +social advantages of the measure in the neighbourhood where she resided. +A celebrated writer of the period[105] gives it as his opinion, that +"the penny-post scheme was a much wiser and more effective measure than +the Prussian system of education" just then established. "By the +reduction of the postage on letters," adds he, "the use and advantage of +education has been brought home to the common man (for it no longer +costs him a day's pay to communicate with his family). A state machinery +of schoolmasters on the Prussian system would cost far more than the +sacrifice of revenue by the reduction of postage. This measure will be +the great historical distinction of the reign of Victoria. Every mother +in the kingdom who has children earning their bread at a distance lays +her head on the pillow at night with a feeling of gratitude for this +blessing." Almost all now living, who shared the benefits of the scheme +at this early date, could probably relate some anecdote which +circumstances had brought to their knowledge as to the operation of +penny postage _on the poorer classes especially_. Thus, the then +Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, visiting the Shetland Islands in +1842, writes:[106] "The Zetlanders are delighted with cheap postage. +The postmaster told me that the increase in the number of letters is +astonishing.... Another gentleman who is well acquainted with the people +told me, that although the desire of parents to keep their offspring at +home is unusually strong in Zetland, yet that cheap postage has had the +effect of reconciling families to the temporary absence of their +members, and has thus opened to the islanders the labour-market of the +mainland." An American writer,[107] in an admirable pamphlet on cheap +postage, says: "The people of England expend now as much money as they +did under the old system; but the advantage is, they get more service +for their money, and it gives a spring to business, trade, science, +literature, philanthropy, social affection, and all plans of public +utility." Joseph Hume, writing to Mr. Bancroft, then American minister +at the court of St. James's, 1848, says: "I am not aware of any reform, +amongst the many which I have promoted during the past forty years, that +has had, and will have, better results towards the improvement of the +country socially, morally, and politically." And Mr. Hill himself, in +addressing the Statistical Society in May, 1841,[108] made a statement +which was neither an idle nor a vain boast, when he assured them that +"the postman has now to make long rounds through humble districts where, +heretofore, his knock was rarely heard." + +We have yet the second, or financial, aspect of the measure to consider. +In two years a tolerably correct idea might be formed as to the results +of the scheme financially; but it would certainly not be fair to attempt +any full estimate of such a thorough reform within a more circumscribed +period. Not that this was not attempted. Colonel Maberly discovered, at +the end of the _first week_, that Mr. Hill's plan had failed, at any +rate, as a question of revenue. No doubt the wish was father to the +thought. He not only thought so, however, but proceeded to take timely +action and shield himself and his congeners against some probable +future attack. In his own words, he charged "the officials to take care +that no obstacle was thrown in the way of the scheme, so as to give a +colour to the allegation"--which the prophetic colonel was only too sure +would be made--"that its failure was owing to the unwillingness of the +authorities to carry it fairly into execution."[109] + +In the first year of penny postage, notwithstanding all the confident +prophecies to the contrary from those who might have been supposed to +have had means of judging, the net proceeds of the Post-Office were +between four and five hundred thousand pounds, whilst the number of +letters actually sent was _tripled_. Against a million and a half yearly +revenue of the previous year, there certainly appeared an enormous +deficit; but till all other arguments were exhausted, it ought not to +have been considered either evidence or proof of the failure of cheap +postage. In the first instance, the Post-Office authorities said the +scheme would not pay its expenses: a year sufficed to prove their +mistake. It was then said that the revenue sacrificed would never be +recovered, and accidental circumstances, of which we shall presently +speak, favoured for a time this view: the argument, however, was based +on erroneous views, as subsequent events have sufficiently shown. Bad as +things appeared, there were, nevertheless, many significant signs at the +end of two years that the _gross_ revenue under the old would soon be +reached under the new system, and even prospects that the past _net_ +revenue might still be recoverable. Both these anticipations have now +been entirely realized. With a tenfold--nay, in many cases, a +hundredfold--gain to different classes of the community--with the +Post-Office supplying more situations by thousands than under the +_ancien régime_, the old gross revenue was passed in 1850-1, and the net +revenue was reached last year. Moreover, every complaint under this head +has long since been silenced. Many considerations went to hinder the +early growth of the revenue; and it is to some of these considerations +that we must now turn for a moment. + +It is of primary importance that the reader should remember that Mr. +Hill, in his pamphlet and elsewhere, expressed a decided opinion that +the maintenance of the Post-Office revenue depended upon the carrying +out of _all his plans_.[110] In a speech which he delivered at +Wolverhampton, September 7th, 1839, he said: "The mere reduction in the +rates of postage will, of course, greatly increase the number of +letters; but much will still depend on the extent to which the +facilities for despatching letters are improved by a careful employment +of the many economical and speedy modes of conveyance which now exist, +and by a solicitous attention to all the minute ramifications of +distribution. If, on the one hand, due attention is paid to the +increasing demands of the public for the more frequent and more speedy +despatch of letters, and, on the other hand, pains are taken to keep +down the cost of management, though some temporary loss of revenue will +arise, I see no reason to fear that the loss will be either great or +permanent." Mr. Hill's proposals, it will be remembered, were embraced +under four principal heads. The first, a uniform and low rate of +postage, was fully carried out; but it was the only part of the measure +which was realized at this time. The second, increased speed in the +delivery of letters; and the third, consisting of provisions for +greater facility in the despatch of letters, were not attempted, or, +if attempted, only in the slightest degree. With regard to the +simplifications of the operations of the Post-Office, which formed the +fourth great item, little or nothing was done, though that little was +rendered easy of accomplishment by the uniformity of postage-rates. Not +only was the scheme not fairly worked, and the improvements only +partially carried out, but they were crippled in their operation by +officials who, if not hostile, were half-hearted and far from anxious +for a successful issue. The natural difficulties in the way of the +measure were numerous enough without the addition of official +opposition. Trade was flourishing when the Postage Bill was carried; it +was fearfully depressed in the first year of penny postage. It is well, +as Miss Martineau points out, that none foreknew the heavy reverse which +was at hand, and the long and painful depression that ensued after the +passing of the Act, for none might then have had the courage to go into +the enterprise. + +This circumstance, accounting, as it does, for some of the deficit in +the first and second years, also served to test the real principles of +the reform.[111] Mr. Hill's plan, though given over to the apathy and +_vis inertiæ_ of the authorities--to "the unwilling horses of the +Post-Office," as Mr. Baring subsequently designated them--really worked +well, though at a loss, when everything else was working ill. Moreover, +the tendency of cheap communication to improve the general revenue of +the country was clearly apparent so early as 1842; and this is a fact +which ought not to be lost sight of for a moment. The reduction of +postage-rates was to the community a reduction of taxation; the capital +released was driven into other and perhaps more legitimate channels. The +Exchequer lost revenue from one source, but it gained it in other ways, +as a consequence on the outlay at the Post-Office. In 1842, there was an +acknowledged loss to the Post-Office revenue of 900,000_l._ In the same +year, no serious defalcation appeared in the general accounts of the +country, notwithstanding the extent of the depression in trade. + +There were special as well as general considerations entering into the +question of the acknowledged deficiency in the revenue. It is clear that +Mr. Hill--who did not foresee that so much money would be sacrificed, +and who was sanguine of recovering it at no distant date--likewise +could have had but an indefinite idea of the vast amount of extra +machinery which would be called into operation by the full development +of his plans; the extent of the measures that must follow if the country +was to be equally privileged with cheap correspondence; and the +concessions that would have to be granted when the wedge was driven in +by this, his principal measure. As one only of the causes leading to the +extra heavy expenses of the Post-Office department, we may mention the +changes in the system of mail-conveyance consequent on the introduction +of railways. Dating from 1838, railways had been gradually absorbing all +the stage-coach traffic. Mr. Hill, when making his original proposals, +calculated that the number of chargeable letters might be increased +twenty-four fold without overloading the mails, and without any material +addition to the sums paid to contractors. So great and important--we +would almost say vital--was the question of _speed_ to the Post-Office, +that railways were almost immediately brought into requisition, although +the cost of the carriage of the mails was, at the outset, doubled, +tripled, and even quadrupled! Many striking examples of the great +difference in the cost of the two services are furnished in different +Post-Office Reports. For instance:[112] In 1844, a coach proprietor in +the North of England actually _paid_ to the Post-Office Department the +sum of 200_l._ annually for what he regarded as the privilege of +conveying the mails, twice a-day, between Lancaster and Carlisle. Now +the Post-Office _pays_ the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway the sum of +18,000_l._ annually for the same service. The items of charges for +mail-conveyance by railway at the present time--if they could have +been known by any means, or even guessed at, by the enterprising +post-reformer of 1837--might have had the effect of deterring him from +offering his suggestions when he did. Certain it is, that the proposals +would have had small chance of success, if those who had charge of the +fiscal concerns of the country could have known that the sum which +would have to be paid by the Post-Office to railway companies alone, in +the year 1863, would not fall far short of the whole amount standing for +the entire postal expenses of 1839. + +In 1842 Mr. Hill left the Treasury, and was thus cut off from all active +supervision of his measures. The Post-Office authorities found a friend +in Mr. Goulbourn, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was known to +sympathise with their views. It had been arranged that Mr. Hill should +continue his services for some short time longer in his improvised place +at the Treasury Offices. The divergence in the views of the new chiefs +and the reformer made his position more and more unpleasant. On his +being bowed out of office, Mr. Hill petitioned the House of Commons. The +petition--which was presented by Mr. Baring, the ex-Chancellor of the +Exchequer--described briefly the Post-Office measures of 1839; his own +appointment to the Treasury; the fact of his appointment being annulled; +the benefit of the new measures in spite of their partial execution; the +obstructive policy of the Post-Office officials; and thus concludes:-- + + "That the opinion adopted by Her Majesty's Government, that the + further progress in Post-Office improvements may be left to the + Post-Office itself, is contrary to all past experience, and is + contradicted by measures recently adopted by that establishment. + + "That, notwithstanding the extreme depression of trade which existed + when the penny rate was established, and has prevailed ever since; + and notwithstanding the very imperfect manner in which your + Petitioner's plans have been carried into effect, the want of due + economy in the Post-Office, the well-known dislike entertained by + many of those persons to whom its execution has been entrusted, and + the influence such dislike must necessarily have upon its success, + yet the results of the third year of partial trial, as shown by a + recent return made to the House of Lords, is a gross revenue of + two-thirds, and a net revenue of one-third, the former amount. + + "That your Petitioner desires to submit the truth of the foregoing + allegations to the severest scrutiny, and therefore humbly prays + your honourable House will be pleased to institute an inquiry into + the state of the Post-Office, with the view of adopting such + measures as may seem best for fully carrying into effect your + Petitioner's plans of Post-Office improvement, and thus realizing + the undoubted intentions of the Legislature." + +The prayer of the petition was granted, and its proceedings are duly +chronicled.[113] The object of this committee was "to inquire into the +measures which have been adopted for the general introduction of a penny +rate of postage, and for facilitating the conveyance of letters; the +results of such measures, as far as relates to the revenue and +expenditure of the Post-Office and the general convenience of the +country; and to report their observations thereon to the House." Before +proceeding to give any account of the further measures brought under +discussion in connexion with this committee, we must give, in a few +sentences, a _résumé_ of the principal improvements which had actually +been carried out during the interval of the sittings of the two +committees. + + 1. The uniform rate of one penny for a letter not above half an + ounce, with weight adopted as the standard for increase of charge. + + 2. The value of a system of prepayment was established,[114] the + necessary facility being afforded by the introduction of + postage-stamps. Double postage was levied on letters not prepaid _in + London only_. + + 3. Day-mails were established on the principal railway-lines running + out of London, thus giving some of the principal towns in the + provinces one additional delivery, with two mails from the + metropolis in one day. + + 4. An additional delivery was established in London, and two were + given to some of the suburbs. + + 5. Colonial and foreign rates for letters were greatly lowered, the + inland rates--viz. the rates paid for those letters passing through + this country--being abandoned altogether in some cases, as Mr. Hill + had recommended. + + 6. The privilege of franking, private and official, was abolished, + and low charges made for the transmission of parliamentary papers. + + 7. Arrangements were made for the registration of letters. + + 8. The Money-order Office was rendered available to a fourfold + extent. And-- + + 9. The number of letters increased from 75 millions in 1838-9, to + 219 millions in 1842-3.[115] + +This was certainly a large instalment of the improvements which the +promoters of penny-post reform hoped to see realized; but, at the same +time, it was only an instalment. The committee for which Mr. Hill had +petitioned must now judge for themselves whether all had been done that +might and ought to have been done to enhance the merits of the measure, +and make it as profitable to the country as possible. In addition, it +was requisite that they should consider several further suggestions +which Mr. Hill had, since the introduction of his plan, proposed as +likely to improve it, as well as hear him on some of the objections that +had been raised to it. Thus, with regard to the latter, the Chancellor +of the Exchequer (Mr. Goulbourn) had stated; just before the committee +was appointed, that "the Post-Office did not now pay its expenses." This +statement was startling, inasmuch as Colonel Maberly himself had given +500,000_l._ or 600,000_l._ as the proceeds of the penny postage rates in +the advent year of the measure. But Mr. Hill resolved the difficulty. +The inconsistency was explained quite simply, that in a return furnished +by the Post-Office, the whole of the cost of the packet-service--a +little over 600,000_l._--was charged against the Post-Office revenue. +Though the cost of the packets had not been charged against the +Post-Office for twenty years previously, this new item was here debited +in the accounts to the prejudice of the scheme; and Mr. Goulbourn, who +disclaimed any hostility to the new measure, thought himself justified, +under the circumstances, in making the statement in question. + +Again: It was strongly and frequently urged that correspondence was less +secure than under the old system. It was said by the Post-Office +officials, that the system of prepayment operated prejudicially against +the security of valuable letters. Under the old _régime_ it was argued, +the postman was charged with a certain number of unpaid letters, and +every such letter, so taxed, was a check upon him. "What security," it +was now asked, "can there be for the delivery of letters for which the +letter-carriers are to bring back no return?" With prepaid letters, it +was said, there was great temptation, unbounded opportunity for +dishonesty, and no check. To some extent, and so far as letters +containing coin or other articles of value were concerned, there were +some grounds for these remarks. It is a great question whether, in the +case of valuable letters, the dishonest postman would be discouraged +from a depredation by the thought that he would have the postage of the +letter to account for; but still, freedom from all such considerations, +under the new system, would clearly seem to increase the risks which the +public would have to run. Previously to the penny postage era, all +letters containing, or supposed to contain, coin or jewellery, were +registered gratuitously at the Post-Office as a security against their +loss. Under the new system, it was considered impracticable to continue +the service, and the Post-Office authorities, with the sanction of the +Treasury, dropped it altogether. The Money-order Office was available; +the fees had been greatly reduced, and the officials, in warning persons +against sending coin in letters, strongly recommended that this Office +should be used for the purpose. Still, the number of coin-letters +increased, and the number of depredations increased with them, to the +great prejudice of the measure. Mr. Hill, whilst in the Treasury, +recommended a system of registration of letters, which appears to have +been somewhat similar to a plan proposed by the Post-Office authorities +themselves in 1838. A system of registration was the result; but the +rate of charge of one shilling per letter was enough in itself to render +the entire arrangement nugatory. In October, 1841, Lord Lowther proposed +to the Treasury that they should let him put down the evil in another +way, viz. that they should allow him to use his powers, under the 3 & 4 +Vict. c. 96, sec. 39, to establish a _compulsory_ registration of +letters supposed to contain coin or jewellery, and to make the charge +for such compulsory registration a shilling per letter. The Treasury +Lords referred the proposal to Mr. Hill. He concurred in the opinion of +the Postmaster-General, and thought the principle of compulsory +registration quite fair. He pointed out, however, in a letter to the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, many objections to the plan, and contended +that, so long as the registration fee was fixed at the high rate of a +shilling, inducements enough were not held out to the public to register +their letters _voluntarily_. Mr. Hill, therefore, suggested that the fee +should be at once lowered to sixpence, to be reduced still further as +soon as practicable. The public, under a lower rate, would have little +excuse for continuing a bad practice; but if it was continued, +restrictive measures might _then_ be tried, as the only remaining method +of protecting the public from the consequences of their own imprudence. +The sixpenny rate would, he thought, be remunerative; nor would the +letters increase to a much greater number than that reached under the +old system when they were registered gratuitously. This subject was +still under discussion when the special committee was granted, when, of +course, all the proposals relative to the registration of letters were +laid before it and investigated. Strong objections were made to Mr. +Hill's proposition to lower the rate. It was contended that the number +of registered letters would so increase, that other Post-Office work +could not be accomplished. The Postmaster-General, for example, +contested the principle of registration altogether, admitting, however, +that it was useful in reducing the number of ordinary letters containing +coin, and the consequent temptations to the officers of the Post-Office. +Like many of the additional proposals, this subject was left undecided; +but no one at this date questions the propriety of the recommendations +made under this head. The charge for registration has, within the last +few years, been twice reduced, with benefit to the revenue, and no +hindrance to the general efficiency of the Post-Office. Not only so, but +the compulsory registration clause is now in active operation. + +We cannot enter far into the minutiæ of the Committee's deliberations. +Mr. Hill endeavoured to show that economy in the management of the +Post-Office had been neglected. The number of clerks and letter-carriers +which had sufficed for the complex system that had been superseded, must +more than suffice for the work of the Office under his simplified +arrangements: yet no reduction had been made. Economy, he said, had been +neglected in the way contracts had been let; in the manner railway +companies were remunerated for carrying mails. He computed that the sum +of 10,000_l._ a-year had been paid to these companies for space in the +trains that had never been occupied. He also endeavoured to show that +the salaries of nearly all the postmasters in the country needed +revision; that the establishments of each should also be revised. The +changes under the new system, taken together with the changes which +railways had made, had had the effect of increasing the work of some +offices, but greatly decreasing that of many more. He proposed that +there should be a complete revision of work and wages; that postmasters +should be paid on fixed salaries; and that all perquisites, with the +exception of a poundage on the sale of postage-stamps, should be given +up. Late-letter fees had, up to the year 1840, been received by the +postmasters themselves. Under the Penny Postage Act, however, these fees +went to the revenue, and compensation, at a certain fixed rate, was +granted to the postmasters in lieu of them. Mr. Hill stated that the +amount of compensation granted was generally too much, and was to be +accounted for on the ground that the postmasters had, in all the cases, +made their own returns. + +Mr. Hill's principal recommendations to this Committee were-- + + (1) The plan of a cheap registration of letters. (2) That _all_ + inland letters should be prepaid (care being taken that postmasters + should be supplied with a sufficient stock of postage-stamps), and + double postage charged for all unpaid letters. (3) Reduction in the + staff of officers till the number of letters increased to five or + sixfold; that the London officers should be fully and not only + partially employed; and that female employment might be encouraged + in the provinces. (4) Simplification in the mode of assorting + letters. (5) The adoption of measures to induce the public to + facilitate the operations of the Post-Office--by giving complete and + legible addresses to letters, by making slits in house-doors, and + other means. (6) The establishment of a greater number of rural + post-offices, till, eventually, there should be one set up in every + village. (7) All restrictions as to the weight of parcels to be + removed, and a book-packet rate to be established, with arrangements + for conveying prints, maps, &c. &c. That railway stations should + have post-offices connected with them, and that letter-sorting + should be done on board the packets, were among his miscellaneous + suggestions. + +With especial reference to the London Office, Mr. Hill recommended (1) +the union of the two corps of general and district letter-carriers; (2) +the establishment of district offices; (3) an hourly delivery of letters +instead of one every two hours, the first delivery to be finished by +nine o'clock. + +Nearly the whole of these recommendations were combated by the officers +of the Post-Office during their examination--and successfully so--though +it is certainly remarkable that, in the face of their opinions, the +great majority of the proposals have subsequently been carried out with +unquestioned advantage to the service. It would be a weary business to +relate the objections made, and the exceptions taken to each +recommendation as it came up to be considered. Of course the _non +possumus_ argument was frequently introduced. Colonel Maberly said it +was an impossibility that there should be hourly deliveries in London. A +post-office in every village was thought equally absurd. We need only +add, that the labours of the Committee led to little practical result. +They decided, by a majority of four, not to report any judgment on the +matter. Though this result must have been eminently unsatisfactory to +Mr. Hill, especially on account of their not having expressed themselves +on his grievances, yet, by refusing to exonerate the Post-Office from +the charges which he had brought against it, the Committee may be said +to have found for the reformer. With regard to Mr. Hill's further +suggestions, they refer to the evidence, and, "entertain no doubt that +his propositions will receive the fullest consideration" from the +Treasury and the Post-Office. So they did eventually, after some weary +years of waiting. Fifty years before, Mr. Palmer, writing to Mr. Pitt, +said, "I have had every possible opposition from the Office." Mr. Hill +might truly have said the same. Thus it is that history repeats itself, +and "the thing which hath been, it is that which shall be." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] _Post-Office Reform_, p. 26. + +[102] _Results of the New Postal Arrangements_, read before the +Statistical Society of London, 1841. + +[103] Second Report, p. 365. + +[104] The reader of such books as Cowper's _Life and Letters_, and +Moore's _Correspondence_, will find that the means of obtaining franks, +or carriage for their manuscripts or proofs, gave the poets frequent +uneasiness, and lost them much time. So with many needy literary men, in +what Professor de Morgan somewhat absurdly calls the "Prerowlandian +days." The Professor himself gives an instance of an author sending up +some dry manuscripts to him, under cover to a member of Parliament, +expressing a hope, we think, that the representative would feel some +interest in the subject. + +[105] Laing's _Notes of a Traveller_. + +[106] _Fraser's Magazine_, September, 1862. + +[107] Mr. Joshua Leavitt. + +[108] Page 96. + +[109] Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 246. + +[110] Parliamentary Committee, _Third Report_, p. 64. + +[111] "The first result of the scheme amply vindicated the policy of the +new system, but it required progressive and striking evidence to exhaust +all opposition."--_Ency. Brit._ Eighth Edition. + +[112] Postmaster-General's _First Report_. + +[113] Select Committee on the Post-Office, 1843. + +[114] In the last month of high charges, of two and a half million +letters passing through the London Office, nearly two millions were +unpaid, and few more than half a million paid. Twelve months afterwards, +the proportion of paid to unpaid letters was entirely changed, the +latter had run up to the enormous number of five and a half millions; +the former had shrunk to about half a million. + +[115] Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 93. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE POST-OFFICE AND LETTER-OPENING. + + +It will be fresh in the memory of many readers, that the year 1844 +revealed to the public certain usages of the Government, and a branch of +post-office business--previously kept carefully in the dark--which went +far to destroy the confidence of the nation in the sanctity of its +correspondence. In the session of 1844, Mr. Thomas S. Duncombe presented +a petition from Mr. W. J. Linton, M. Mazzini, and two other persons +residing at 47, Devonshire Street, Queen's Square, complaining that +their letters were regularly detained and opened at the Post-Office. The +petitioners declared that they "considered such a practice, introducing +the spy-system of foreign states, as repugnant to every principle of the +British constitution, and subversive of that public confidence which was +so essential to a commercial country." The petitioners prayed for an +inquiry, and Mr. Duncombe supported their prayer. Sir James Graham, then +Home Secretary, got up in the House and stated that, as regarded three +of the petitioners, their letters had not been detained; as for the case +of M. Mazzini, a warrant had been obtained from the Home-Office to stop +and open the correspondence of that person. He had the power by law and +he had exercised it. "The authority," said Sir James, "was vested in the +responsible Ministers of the Crown, and was intrusted to them for the +public safety; and while Parliament placed its confidence in the +individual exercising such a power, it was not for the public good to +pry or inquire into the particular causes which called for the exercise +thereof."[116] He hoped that the House would confide in his motives, and +that they would not call upon him to answer any further inquiries. The +speech of the Home Secretary added fuel to the flame. Had Sir James +Graham entered more fully into the subject, and gone into the real state +of the law, it is probable that the subject might have been allowed to +drop. Not only was the slightest explanation of the principle adopted +refused by the Home Secretary, but that refusal was given somewhat +cavalierly. Public attention was thus roused; the most exaggerated +rumours got abroad; it was openly stated by the press that a gigantic +system of espionage had been established at St. Martin's-le-Grand, and +now no mere general assurances of its unreality could dispel the talk or +stop newspaper extravagances. Sir James Graham was abused most +unreasonably. There was hardly a public print or public speaker in the +kingdom that did not heap insults or expressions of disgust on his name. +This state of things could not continue; accordingly, we find Lord +Radnor, moving soon after in the House of Lords, for a return of all the +warrants which had been issued for the detention of letters during a +certain period, animadverting especially upon the alleged practice of +general warrants to intercept all letters addressed to a certain person +instead of there being issued a separate warrant in the case of each +letter.[117] This mode of proceeding, as he truly said, if acted upon, +was a flagrant violation of the words of the statute. Lord Campbell +expressed the same views. Lord Brougham observed that the first statute +conferring this power had been framed by Lord Somers. It had been +continued ever since by various Acts, and had been exercised by Sir +Robert Walpole, Lord Grenville, and Mr. Fox, as well as under the +administrations of Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne. If Lord Campbell's +construction of the Act were correct, the sooner they had a new one the +better. Lord Denman was for putting an end to the power altogether. The +return was granted, the Duke of Wellington approving the Home +Secretary's conduct notwithstanding. + +On the 24th of June, 1844, Mr. Duncombe again called the attention of +the House of Commons to the subject, by presenting a petition from Mr. +Charles Stolzman, a Polish refugee, complaining that his letters had +been detained and opened. Mr. Duncombe contended that the Act of 1837 +never meant to confer an authority upon a Minister of the Crown to +search out the secrets of exiles resident in this country at the +instance of foreign Governments, but was only designed to meet the case +of domestic treason. "Mr. Stolzman was a friend of M. Mazzini," said Mr. +Duncombe, "and this was why his letters had been tampered with." After +describing the way in which letters were opened, he concluded a most +powerful speech by again moving for a committee of inquiry. He did not +want to know Government secrets; he doubted if they were worth knowing; +but he wanted inquiry into the practice of the Department, which he +contended was unconstitutional and contrary to law. Sir James Graham, +without entering into any further explanation, except saying that the +law had not been violated, and that if it had, the honourable member +might prove it before a legal tribunal, objected strongly, and in almost +a defiant manner, to any committee. Mr. Macaulay, Lord Howick, Mr. +Sheil, and Lord John Russell warmly supported the motion for an inquiry. +Sir Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, and Mr. Monckton Milnes opposed it, when +it was rejected by a majority of forty-four. What party speeches failed +in doing, the clamour and popular tumult outside at length accomplished. +Popular ridicule settled upon the subject; pencil and pen set to work +upon it with a will. Newspapers were unusually, and sometimes +unreasonably, free in their comments, and all kinds of stories about the +Post-Office went the round of the press. Sir James Graham had to bear +the brunt of the whole business; whereas the entire Cabinet, but +especially Lord Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, ought equally to have +shared the opprobrium. As it was, the bearing of the Home Secretary in +the House of Commons was singularly unwise and unadroit. The subject had +now come to be regarded as of too great public importance to be suffered +to rest; besides, it was an attractive one for the Opposition side of +the House. Mr. Duncombe renewed his motion towards the end of July in +the same session. It was in a slightly altered form, inasmuch as he now +moved for a select committee "to inquire into a department of Her +Majesty's Post-Office commonly called 'the secret or inner office,' the +duties and employment of the persons engaged therein, and the authority +under which the functions of the said office were discharged." Mr. +Duncombe made some startling statements as to the mode and extent of the +practice of letter-opening, all of which he declared he could prove if +the committee was granted. The Government saw the necessity of giving +way, in order that the public mind might be quieted. The Home Secretary +now acknowledged, that since he was last questioned on the subject, the +matter had assumed a very serious aspect, and he thought it was time +that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, should be +told. Though he would have readily endured the obloquy cast upon him, +even though it should crush him, rather than injure the public service; +and though he had endured much, especially after the votes and speeches +of the Opposition leaders--all men conversant with official duties--in +favour of Mr. Duncombe's former motions, he now felt himself relieved +from his late reserve, and felt bound to confess that he believed it to +be impossible to maintain the power confided to him longer without a +full inquiry. He would now not only consent to the committee, but would +desire that it should make the fullest possible inquiry, and he would +promise on his part, not only to state all he knew, but lend all the +resources of his Department to attain that object. In accordance with +this determination, he proposed that the Committee should be a secret +one, invested with the amplest powers to commence the investigation at +once, and should be composed of five usually voting against the +Government, viz. Sir C. Lemon, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Strutt, Mr. Orde, and +the O'Connor Don; and four who generally support them, viz. Lord Sandon +(chairman), Mr. T. Baring, Sir W. Heathcote, and Mr. H. Drummond. "To +this committee," said Sir James, "I gladly submit my personal honour and +my official conduct, and I make my submission without fear." The +committee was appointed after Mr. Wilson Patten's name had been +substituted for Mr. Drummond's, on account of the latter being a lawyer; +and after an unsuccessful attempt to add Mr. Duncombe's name, which was +rejected by 128 to 52. Its object was "to inquire into the state of the +law with respect to the detaining of letters in the General Post-Office, +and to the mode in which that power had been exercised, and that the +Committee should have power to send for persons, papers, and records, +and to report the result of their inquiry to the House." A Committee of +the House of Lords was appointed at the same time. Sir James Graham's +examination lasted four days, when he fulfilled his pledge to make a +full and unreserved disclosure of all he knew. Almost all the members of +that and former Governments were examined. Lord John Russell confessed +to having done the same as Sir James Graham when he held the seals of +the Home-Office, though he had not used the power so frequently. He also +stated that he supported Mr. Duncombe in his previous motions for +inquiry, because he thought it necessary that the public should have the +information asked for. Lord Normanby had used the power in Ireland for +detecting "low ribbonism, which could not be _ferretted out_ by other +means." Lord Tankerville testified to the existence of a warrant signed +by Mr. Fox in 1782, ordering the detention and opening of all letters +addressed to foreign ministers; another, ordering that all the letters +addressed to Lord George Gordon should be opened. Witnesses were also +brought from the Post-Office. Mr. Duncombe, on being asked for a list +of witnesses to prove his allegations, refused to hand in their names +unless he were allowed to be present during the examination. This the +Committee had no power to grant, and consequently he declined to +proceed. Mr. Duncombe appealed to the House, but the decision of the +Committee was confirmed. + +No inconsiderable part of the Committee's time was taken up in the +production and examination of records, acts, and precedents bearing on +the subject. The officers of the State Paper Office and other high +Government functionaries produced records and State papers of great +importance, from which we learn many interesting particulars of early +postal history. At some risk of being charged with anachronism, we have +thought it desirable to introduce these details in the order of the +_subject_ under treatment. + +James I. in establishing a foreign post, was more anxious that +Government secrets should not be disclosed to foreign countries, "which +cannot be prevented if a promiscuous use of transmitting foreign letters +and packets should be suffered," than that the post should be of use to +traders and merchants. There was a motive for the jealous monopoly of +postal communications; and if the proclamation from which the above is +taken (Rymer's Foedera) is not clear on the subject, the following +extract from a letter written by the one of James's secretaries to the +other, Lord Conway, is sufficiently explicit: "Your Lordship best +knoweth what account we shall be able to give in our place in Parliament +of that which passeth by letters in and out of the land, if every man +may convey letters as he chooseth." Sir John Coke, the writer of the +above, would seem to have got rid of the difficulty in a thorough +manner, if we may believe an English letter-writer addressing a friend +in Scotland, when he wrote, "I hear the posts are waylaid, and all +letters taken from them and brought to Secretary Coke."[118] + +During the Commonwealth, of course, letter-opening was to be expected. +The very reason which Cromwell gave for establishing the posts was, that +they would be "the best means of discovering and preventing many wicked +designs against the Commonwealth, intelligence whereof cannot well be +communicated but by letter of escript." Foreign and home letters shared +an equal fate. On one occasion, the Venetian ambassador remonstrated +openly that his letters had been delayed and read, and it was not +denied. At the Restoration, a distinct clause in the "Post-Office +Charter" provided that "no one, except under the immediate warrant of +one of our principal Secretaries of State, shall presume to open any +letters or pacquets not directed unto themselves." + +Under the improved Act of Queen Anne, 1711, it is again stated that "no +person or persons shall presume to open, detain, or delay any letter or +letters, after the same is or shall be delivered into the General or +other Post-Office, and before delivery to the persons to whom they are +addressed, except by an express warrant in writing under the hand of one +of the principal Secretaries of State for _every such opening_, +detaining, or delaying." This Act was continued under all the Georges, +and again agreed to in 1837, under 1 Vict. c. 32. + +During the last century, the practice of granting warrants was +exceedingly common; and they might be had on the most trivial pretences. +It was not the practice to record such warrants regularly in any +official book,[119] and few are so recorded: we can only guess at their +number from the frequent mention made of them in the State trials of the +period, and in other incidental ways. In 1723, at Bishop Atterbury's +trial, copies of his letters were produced and given in evidence against +him. A clerk from the Post-Office certified to the fact that they had +passed through the post, and that he had seen them opened, read, and +copied. Atterbury, as well he might, asked for the authority for this +practice; and, especially, if the Secretary of State had directed that +his letters should be interfered with? A majority in the House of Lords +decided that the question need not be answered. It is pleasant to relate +that twenty-nine peers recorded an indignant protest against this +decision. One of them proposed to cross-examine the Rev. (!) Edward +Willes, "one of His Majesty's Post-Office decipherers," but the majority +going to a still greater length, resolved: "That it is the opinion of +this House that it is not consistent with the public safety to ask the +decipherers any questions which may tend to _discover the art or mystery +of deciphering_."[120] Again, at the trial of Horne Tooke for high +treason in 1795, a letter written to him by Mr. Joyce, a printer, was +intercepted at the Post-Office, and was stated by the prisoner to be the +immediate occasion of his apprehension. On his requiring its production, +a duly certified copy was brought into Court by the Crown officers and +given in evidence. + +Twelve years after the trial of Bishop Atterbury, members of both Houses +became alarmed for the safety of their correspondence, and succeeded in +getting up an agitation on the subject. Several members of the House of +Commons complained that their letters had been opened. Revelations were +made at this time which remind us strongly of the episode of 1844, both +discussions resulting in a parliamentary committee of inquiry. It was +stated in the debate of 1735, that the liberty which the Act gave "could +serve no purpose but to enable the idle clerks about the office to pry +into the private affairs of every merchant and gentleman in the +kingdom."[121] It transpired on this occasion that a regular +organization existed, at enormous expense, for the examination of home +and foreign correspondence. The Secretary of the Post-Office stated that +the greater part of 45,000_l._ had been paid, without voucher of any +kind, to Robert, Earl of Oxford, for defraying the expenses of this +establishment. Among the principal annual expenses were the salaries of +the chief decipherers[122] (Dr. Willes and his son), 1,000_l._; the +second decipherer, 800_l._; the third, 500_l._; four clerks, 1,600_l._; +doorkeeper, 50_l._; incidental charges, but principally for seals, +100_l._ The result of the inquiry was, that the Committee condemned the +practice, and the House declared that it was a breach of privilege on +the part of the Government to use the power except in the exact manner +described in the statute. + +Whether any real improvement took place may best be judged by the +following circumstances. Walpole, who doubtless carried his prerogative +in those matters beyond any two Secretaries of State we could mention, +lent his ear to both public and private applications alike, issuing +warrants even to further cases of private tyranny. In the Report of the +Secret Committee, p. 12, we find that a warrant is granted, in 1741, for +what purpose may be judged by the following: "At the request of A, a +warrant is issued to permit A's eldest son to open and inspect any +letters which A's youngest son might write to two females, one of which +that youngest son had imprudently married." And this inquisitorial +spirit beginning with the highest, descended even to the lowest class of +officials. A writer in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, vol. xviii. p. 405 +(quoting from the _State Trials_, vol. xviii. p. 1369), tells us, in +relation to this subject, that so little attention was paid to the +requirements of the Act of Queen Anne, or the Committee of the House of +Commons just referred to, the very bellmen took to scrutinizing the +letters given them for their bags. One of those functionaries was +examined at the trial of Dr. Hensey in 1758, and deposed as follows: +"When I have got all my letters together I carry them home and sort +them. In sorting them I observed that the letters I received of Dr. +Hensey were generally directed abroad and to foreigners; and I, knowing +the Doctor to be a Roman Catholic, advised the examining-clerk at the +office to inspect his letters." This witness, in answer to the +questions, "How came you to know Dr. Hensey to be a Roman Catholic?" and +"What had you to do with his religion?" clinched his evidence thus: "We +letter-carriers and postmen have great opportunities to know the +characters and dispositions of gentlemen, from their servants, +connexions, and correspondents. But, to be plain, if I once learn that a +person who lives a genteel life is a Roman Catholic, I immediately look +upon him as one who, by education and principle, is an inveterate enemy +to my King and country." + +At the beginning of the present century an improvement was carried out. +It was seen that the indiscriminate issue of the warrants was stimulated +and fostered by the fact that no account was kept of them. As a means of +placing a necessary check upon the officers, Lord Spencer, then Home +Secretary, introduced the custom in 1806, of recording the dates of all +warrants granted, and the purposes for which they were issued. Since the +year 1822, the whole of the warrants themselves have been preserved at +the Home Office. In comparing the number of warrants issued by different +Home Secretaries during the present century, we find that Sir James +Graham enjoys the unenviable notoriety of having granted the greatest +number, though the fact is partly explained by the commotion which the +Chartists made in the north of England, 1842-3. + +The revelations made in the two Committees with reference to foreign +correspondence, especially that of foreign Ministers accredited at the +English Court, were very remarkable, and not likely to induce confidence +in our postal arrangements on the part of other powers. It was shown +that in times of war whole foreign mails had been known to have been +detained, and the letters almost individually examined. The Lords' +Committee went so far as to say it was clear, "that it had been for a +long period of time and under successive administrations, up to the +present time, an established practice that the foreign correspondence of +foreign Ministers passing through the General Post-Office should be sent +to a department of the Foreign Office, before the forwarding of such +correspondence, according to the address." What the feelings of foreign +Governments were at this revelation may well be imagined. They would +know, of course, that the English Government, hundreds of years ago, +had not scrupled to lay violent hands on the letters of their +representatives, if by any possibility they could get hold of them. When +Wolsey, for example, wanted possession of the letters of the ambassadors +of Charles V. he went to work very openly, having ordered "a watche +should be made" in and about London, and all persons going _en route_ to +the Continent to be questioned and searched. "One riding towards +Brayneford," says an early record, "when examyned by the watche, +answered so closely, that upon suspicion thereof, they searched hym, and +found secretly hyd aboute hym a pacquet of letters in French." In the +reign of Queen Mary, Gardiner ordered that the messengers of Noailles, +the French ambassador, should be taken and searched in much the same +manner.[123] Notwithstanding this, they would scarcely be prepared for +the information that later Governments, with less to fear, had preferred +more secret measures, establishing a system of espionage which was +certainly not in accordance with the English character, or likely to +subserve the interests of peace in Europe. That the arrangement with +regard to foreign mails was unlawful, may be judged by the prompt +action which was taken in the matter. "Since June, 1844, the +Postmaster-General," so runs the Lords' Report two months later, "having +had his attention called to the fact, that there was no sufficient +authority for this practice, has discontinued it altogether." + +The Commons' Committee reported that the letter-opening warrants might +be divided into two classes--(1) Those issued in furtherance of criminal +justice, usually for the purpose of affording some clue to the +hiding-place of an offender, or to the mode or place of concealment of +property. (2) Those issued for the purpose of discovering the designs of +persons known or suspected to be engaged in proceedings dangerous to the +State, or deeply involving British interests, from being carried on in +the United Kingdom. In the case of both classes of warrants, the mode of +proceeding was nearly similar. The first were issued on the application +of the law-officers; the principal Secretary of State himself determined +when to issue the latter. No record was kept of the grounds on which the +second class of warrants were issued. "The letters which have been +detained and opened are," according to the Committee,[124] "unless +retained by special order, as sometimes happens in criminal cases, +closed and re-sealed _without affixing any mark to indicate that they +have been so detained and opened_, and are forwarded by post according +to their respective superscriptions." They then classed the warrants +issued during the present century in the following way:--For thefts, +murders, and frauds, 162; for treason and sedition, 77; foreign +correspondence, 20; prisoners of war, 13; miscellaneous, 11; and for +uncertain purposes, 89. Undoubtedly, with one class of letters, the +Government were only performing a duty in applying the law as laid down +in 1 Vict. c. 33. The information obtained by the warrants to find the +_locale_ of Chartist disaffection was described by the Committee as most +valuable and useful to the Government. While the whole history of the +transaction in question grates unpleasantly on English ears, there can +be no doubt that in other cases--such as frauds on the banks and +revenue, forgeries, murders, &c.--the power was used impartially to the +advantage of individuals and the benefit of the State. Whether, however, +the discoveries and the benefits were so many as to counterbalance the +odium of countenancing what was so like a public crime, and which +violated public confidence in the Post-Office, or whether the issue of a +few warrants annually, in proportion to the 40,000 committals[125] which +took place yearly at that time, could by any means be called an +efficient instrument of police, are vastly different questions. With +regard to the general question of letter-opening, the issue was +altogether vague and uncertain. Though the _practical_ end of the +inquiry was, no doubt, gained, and warrants may almost be said to have +ceased, still the Committees recommended Parliament to decide that the +power and prerogative of opening letters, under certain given +circumstances, should _not_ be abrogated. They argued that, if the +_right_ of the Secretary of State was denied, it would be equivalent to +advertising to every criminal conspirator against the public peace, that +he might employ the Post-Office with impunity.[126] It was decided, in +consequence of this finding, that the law should remain unaltered. + +Mr. Duncombe was not satisfied. In the next session he attempted to +revive the subject by calling the attention of the House to what he +termed the evasive and unsatisfactory character of the report of the +Secret Committee, and moving the appointment of a Select Committee to +investigate the whole subject over again; but he met with little +success. Sir J. Graham, Sir. R. Peel, Viscount Sandon, Mr. Warburton, +Mr. Ward, and Lord John Manners, spoke against his motion, which he then +withdrew. Upon this, Lord Howick tried to carry a resolution for the +appointment of a Committee to inquire into the case of Mr. Duncombe's +letters only. Mr. Disraeli seconded the motion, desiring not to have the +Government censured, but to see the practice condemned. Mr. Roebuck +believed that the country would not be content until the invidious power +intrusted to the Secretary of State respecting letter-opening was +absolutely abolished. Lord John Russell spoke against the motion, which +was negatived by 240 to 145 members.[127] A few days later Mr. Duncombe +renewed his attack in another form, moving that Colonel Maberly, +Secretary to the Post-Office, should attend at the bar and produce +certain books connected with his office. The Home Secretary resisted the +motion, grounding his objection on the reports of the Committees and the +necessities of the public service. Lord John Russell and a great number +of the Liberal party concurring in this view, the motion was again +rejected by 188 to 113.[128] For some weeks the subject was not again +noticed in Parliament, and probably would have dropped; but it was a +theme on which the Press could not be induced to be silent. Fresh events +occurring in Italy, owing, it was said, to the past action of the +English Government at the Post-Office, Mr. Sheil gave notice of a +resolution, which he moved on the 1st of April, 1845, expressing regret +that Government had opened the letters of M. Mazzini, thus frustrating +the political movement in Italy. Few members, however, showed any desire +to prolong a desultory debate, and thirty-eight only were found willing +to affirm Mr. Sheil's proposition. Mr. Wakley, a day or two afterwards, +tried to revive the same discussion, but a motion which he made was +negatived by three to one. On the 8th of April, 1845, Mr. Duncombe, +while intimating his desire to waive personal questions, and disclaiming +all party feeling, moved for leave to bring in a Bill "to secure the +inviolability of letters passing through the Post-Office." He was at war +with the system, not with the Government. Let the Government approach +the subject in a fair and not in a party spirit. All the Ministers, +however, and the chiefs of the Liberal party, again stoutly resisted any +change in the law; and this long controversy was finally set at rest by +an adverse decision of 161 to 78. + +The English people, it must be added, all along objected less to the +_power_ which the Government possessed in the exertion of their +discretion, than to the _manner_ in which that power was exercised. Mr. +Duncombe's statements during the earlier stages of the discussions, +relating to the "secret office"--never denied--could not be forgotten by +the public when they intrusted their letters to the custody of the +Post-Office. The revelations in question caused a perfect paroxysm of +national anger, because it was felt, throughout the length and breadth +of the land, that such arrangements were repugnant to every feeling of +Englishmen. Had the officers of the Government broken open letters in +the same way as, under certain circumstances, the law allows the +sheriff's officers to break open houses and writing-desks, there might +still have been complainings, but these complainings would neither have +been so loud nor yet so justifiable.[129] There was something in the +melting apparatus, in the tobacco-pipe, in the forged plaster of paris +seals, in the official letter-picker, and in the place where, and manner +how, he did his work, utterly disgusting to John Bull, and most +unsuitable to the atmosphere of England. The law, it is true, remains +unaltered, but it is believed to be virtually a dead letter. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[116] Hansard, 1844. + +[117] _Ibid._ + +[118] Lang's _Historical Summary of the Post-Office in Scotland_. +Postmaster-General's _Third Report_. + +[119] Report of Secret Committee, 1844, p. 9. + +[120] _Lords' Journal_, xxii. pp. 183-6. + +[121] _Commons' Journal_, vol. xxii. p. 462. + +[122] The place was not only lucrative, but in the path of promotion. We +find that, for the proper performance of these very unclerical duties, +the Rev. Dr. was first rewarded with the Deanery of Lincoln and +afterwards with the Bishopric of St. David's. + +[123] Froude. + +[124] Report of Secret Committee, 1844, pp. 14-17. + +[125] Report of the Secret Committee, 1844, pp. 14-17. + +[126] _Ibid._ Commons' Committee. + +[127] Hansard, 1844-5. + +[128] _Ibid._ + +[129] Among many expressions of opinion to which the inquiry on the +subject gave rise, we find the following characteristic effusion from +Thomas Carlyle: "It is a question vital to us that sealed letters in an +English post-office be, as we all fancied they were, respected as things +sacred; that opening of men's letters, a practice near of kin to picking +men's pockets, and to other still viler and far fataler forms of +scoundrelism, be not resorted to in England, except in cases of the very +last extremity. When some new Gunpowder Plot may be in the wind, some +double-dyed high treason, or imminent national wreck not avoidable +otherwise, then let us open letters; not till then. To all Austrian +Kaisers and such like, in their time of trouble, let us answer, as our +fathers from of old have answered--Not by such means is help here for +you." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + +From the year 1844 to the present time the progress of the Post-Office +institution has been great and unexampled. Among Mr. Hill's minor +proposals were those for the institution of day-mails, the establishment +of rural posts, and the extension of free deliveries. The period between +the passing of the Penny Postage Act and the year 1850 saw these useful +suggestions carried out to an extent which proved highly beneficial to +the public. With regard to the day-mails, Mr. Hill proposed that on the +_morning_ of each day, as well as evenings, mails should leave London +after certain country and continental mails had arrived, by which means +letters, instead of remaining nearly twenty-four hours in London, might +be at once forwarded to their addresses, and two mails per diem be thus +given to most English towns. The Earl of Lichfield would seem to have +seen the useful and practicable nature of these proposals, for, being +Postmaster-General at the time, he did not wait to adopt them till the +passing of the Act of 1839. As early as 1838 one or two day-mails were +established, running out of London. Before 1850 we find the list +included those of Dover, Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham, and +Cambridge. These day-mails are now established on every considerable +line of railway in the kingdom. London, in 1864, possesses not only +day-mails on all the lines running from the metropolis, but one to +Ireland, and two by different routes into Scotland. Further, a great +number of railways in the United Kingdom have stipulated to take mails +by any passenger-train. + +Mr. Hill also contemplated the establishment of rural posts in every +village. In 1840, the number of village post-offices was about 3,000. At +that time nothing but "guarantee posts"--by means of which parties in +the country might obtain additional accommodation on their consenting to +bear the whole additional expense--were granted to new localities. Mr. +Hill urged upon the Post-Office authorities the abandonment of this +plan, and the gradual establishment of ordinary post-offices. He +calculated that an annual outlay of 70,000_l._ would suffice to give 600 +additional daily posts to neglected districts, and he pledged his word +that the outlay would be remunerative. There are now more than 8,000 +additional rural post-offices, the erection of which has done all for +the public and the Post-Office revenue that Mr. Hill anticipated. + +The extension of free deliveries, also strongly urged by Mr. Hill, has +progressed fairly from that time to this. Round each provincial town +there used to be drawn a cordon, letters, &c. for places beyond which +had either to be brought by private messenger, or were charged an extra +sum on delivery as a gratuity to the postmaster. From year to year new +places have been included in these free deliveries; soon the most remote +and inaccessible parts of our country--the nooks and crannies of our +land--will enjoy nearly equal privileges with our large towns, more +rural messengers being appointed as this work approaches completion. + +In 1848, the advantages of a book-post were granted to the country. By +the new rate, a single volume might be sent to any part of the United +Kingdom at the uniform rate of sixpence per pound. The privileges of +this book-post were gradually extended to the colonies. The railway +companies, at the time and subsequently, complained loudly that the +Post-Office, by establishing the book-post, had entered into an unfair +competition with them. This competition was described as very +injurious, on account of the low rates at which books and book-packets +were conveyed. It was answered, however--and in this answer the country +very generally agreed--that the railway companies had no legal or +equitable right to the monopoly of parcel-traffic; and if they had, the +exceptions taken in the case of the book-post were only to books and +printed matter intimately connected with objects such as the diffusion +of knowledge and the promotion of education--matters with which the +Post-Office was now most immediately concerned. The facts, however, +were, that very few indeed of the packets sent by the book-post were +such as had been previously sent by railway. The Post-Office, by +offering its vast machinery for the transmission of such articles, +especially to remote districts, gave facilities which had never before +been offered, and which caused books and documents to pass through the +Post-Office which otherwise, had no book-post existed, would not have +been sent through any other channel. A Select Committee, which sat in +1854, on the conveyance of mails by railway, took evidence on this +point, and in their report stated it as their opinion, that a large +proportion of the packets sent would not have been so forwarded but for +the facilities offered by the Post-Office in their distribution. + +Any loss, however, which the railways might experience in this respect +was more than counterbalanced when the Executive abolished the +compulsory impressed stamp on newspapers, this arrangement giving rise +to a conveyance of newspaper-parcels by railway-trains to an enormous +extent, and proportionately lessening the work and profits of the +Post-Office. + +The year 1849 is principally remarkable for the agitation which existed +with respect to Sunday labour at the General Post-Office. Previous to +this year no work was allowed in the London establishment, but now an +arrangement was proposed to receive the mails as on other days, officers +attending, though not during the period of Divine service, to assort +and dispose of the letters received. Public meetings were held in London +and many of the principal towns to protest against any increase of the +Post-Office work. Public opinion in the metropolis was pretty unanimous +against any change; in the provinces it was more divided. The +authorities gave way before the force of opinion, and the London office +has remained closed ever since on the first day of the week. In the +country different arrangements are made. In Scotland, and in one or two +English towns, no letter-delivery takes place from house to house, a +short time only being allowed for the public to apply for their letters +at the post-office windows. In the majority of English towns the early +morning delivery only is made. The day-mails, as a rule, do not run on +Sundays. The post-offices in the major part of our English and Scotch +villages are entirely closed on Sundays. + +Wires having been laid down to St. Martin's-le-Grand from the different +railway stations, telegraph messages were first used to expedite +post-office business on the 31st of August, 1849. All important matters, +such as bag or registered letter irregularities, requiring prompt +notice, are made known or explained through the medium of the electric +telegraph. + +Commissioners were appointed from about this year to secure the services +of railways on the most equitable terms, and to arbitrate for that +purpose between the Post-Office and the railway companies. The +Committee, on the conveyance of mails by railways, suggested this +course. On the debate which followed the report of the Committee to +which we have before alluded, Sir Robert Peel frankly acknowledged "the +enormous error" into which he, and the House generally "had fallen when +the railroad bills were under discussion. They ought to have foreseen," +said he, "when these bills were before them, that they were in fact +establishing a monopoly, a monopoly in respect to which there could be +no future condition. They ought to have foreseen that, if the railroads +were successful, other modes of internal communication would almost +necessarily fall into disuse, and they ought, therefore, to have +stipulated--_as it would have been perfectly just and easy for them to +have done_--that certain public services should be performed at a +reasonable rate." However, as this had not been done, Parliament could +only fall back upon its inherent right to say on what terms such +services should be provided from time to time; for which purpose they +could not do better than employ arbitration, as it was the same course +pursued when the companies disputed with the owners of property the +value of land compulsorily taken for railway works. Sir James +Graham[130] moved a declaratory clause on the occasion, that arbitrators +should take into consideration the cost of the construction of the +particular lines in awarding the sums for different services. Mr. +Labouchere, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, speaking for the +Government, wished the arbitrators to be wholly free, but he gave a +pledge on behalf of the Post-Office that no attempt would be made to +exclude the cost of construction from the consideration of the +arbitrators. With this assurance, the Opposition expressed themselves +satisfied. + +In 1855, the Postmaster-General, the late Lord Canning, commenced the +practice of furnishing the Lords of the Treasury, and through them the +public, with annual reports on the Post-Office. These reports, which +have been continued up to the present time, show the progress of the +Department from year to year, and present to the general reader, as well +as to the statistician, a vast mass of interesting information. Compared +with the reports of the Committee of Revenue Inquiry or of the +Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry, they are lucid and interesting in +their nature. Though constructed on the same plan and little varied from +year to year, they are much above the ordinary run of official +documents. Lord Canning, in recommending the adoption of the plan, gave +as one reason among many, that the Post-Office service was constantly +expanding and improving, but that information respecting postal +matters, especially postal changes, was not easily accessible. This +information, he believed, could be given without any inconvenience, +whilst many misapprehensions, and possibly complaints, might be avoided. +The public might thus see what the Post-Office was about; learn their +duty towards the Department, and find out--what half the people did not +then and perhaps do not even yet understand--what were the benefits and +privileges to which they were justly entitled at its hands. + +The Duke of Argyll succeeded Lord Canning in the management of the +Post-Office in 1855, and his years of office are distinguished by many +most important improvements and reforms. One important change consisted +in the amalgamation of the two corps of London letter-carriers, effected +soon after the installation of the Duke of Argyll at the Post-Office. +The two classes of "General Post" and "London District" letter-carriers +were perhaps best known before 1855, by the former wearing a red, and +the latter a blue, uniform. The object of this amalgamation, for which +Mr. Hill had been sedulously striving from the period of penny postage, +was to avoid the waste of time, trouble, and expense consequent on two +different men going over the same ground to distribute two classes of +letters which might, without any real difficulty, be delivered together. +The greatest objection in the Post-Office itself to completing the +change, arose from the different _status_ of the two bodies of men, the +one class being paid at a much higher rate of wages and with better +prospects than the other class. This difficulty was at length +surmounted, when the benefits of this minor reform became clearly +apparent in earlier and more regular deliveries of letters. Inside the +Post-Office the work was made much more easy and simple, and the gross +inequality existing between two bodies of public servants whose duties +were almost identical, was done away.[131] + +Still more important was the division of London into ten postal +districts, carried out during the year 1856. The immense magnitude of +the metropolis necessitated this scheme; it having been found impossible +to overcome the obstacles to a more speedy transmission of letters +within and around London, or properly to manage without some change, the +ever increasing amount of Post-Office business. Under the new +arrangements, each district was to be treated in many respects as a +separate town, district post-offices to be erected in each of them. +Thus, instead of all district post-letters being carried from the +receiving houses to the chief office at St. Martin's-le-Grand, there to +be sorted and re-distributed, the letters must now be sent to the +principal office of the district in which they were posted; sorted +there; and distributed from that office according to their address. The +time and trouble saved by this arrangement is, as was expected, +enormous. Under the old system, a letter from Cavendish Square to +Grosvenor Square went to the General Post-Office, was sorted, and then +sent back to the latter place, travelling a distance of four or five +miles: whereas, at present, with hourly deliveries, it is almost +immediately sent from one place to the other.[132] An important part of +the new scheme was, that London should be considered in the principal +provincial post-offices as ten different towns, each with its own centre +of operations, and that the letters should be assorted and despatched on +this principle. Country letters would be delivered straightway--without +any intermediate sorting--to that particular part of London for which +they were destined; whilst the sorters there having the necessary local +knowledge, would distribute them immediately into the postmen's walks. +With respect to the _smaller_ provincial towns, it was provided that +their London correspondence should be sorted into districts on the +railway during the journey to the metropolis. Thus, on the arrival of +the different mails at the several railway termini, the letters would +not be sent as formerly to the General Post-Office, but direct to each +district office, in bags prepared in the course of the journey. It was a +long time before this new and important plan was thoroughly carried out +in all its details; but now that it is in working order, the result is +very marked in the earlier delivery of letters, and in the time and +labour saved in the various processes. In fact, all the anticipated +benefits have flowed from the adoption of the measure. + +In the same year a reduction was made in the rates for book-packets. The +arrangement made at this time, which exists at present, charges one +penny for every four ounces of printed matter; a book weighing one pound +being charged fourpence. A condition annexed was, that every such packet +should be open at the ends or sides, and if closed against inspection, +should be liable to be charged at the unpaid letter rate of postage. +This penalty was soon found to be unreasonably heavy and vexatious, and +was therefore reduced to an additional charge of sixpence only. At the +present time, the conditions under which such packets may be sent +through the post are the same, but the fines inflicted for infringements +are still further reduced. + +In 1857, a new regulation provided that a book-packet might consist of +any number of sheets, which might be either printed or written, provided +there was nothing in it of the nature of a letter. If anything of the +sort should be found in the packet on examination, it was to be taken +out and forwarded separately as a letter, and charged twopence as a fine +in addition to the postage at the letter rate. The packet might consist +of books, manuscripts, maps, prints with rollers, or any literary or +artistic matter, if not more than two feet wide, long, or deep. + +In the same year, the letter-rate to all the British Colonies (which +were not previously under the lower rates) was reduced to the uniform +one of sixpence for each half-ounce, payable in advance. The privileges +of the English book-post were also extended to the Colonies; the rate at +which books &c. might be sent being threepence for every four ounces. +Exceptions were made in respect to the following places, viz.--Ascension +Island, East Indies, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and the Gold +Coast, to which places the rate charged was fourpence for four ounces, +the weight being restricted to three pounds. + +Another important improvement was made when, about the same time, the +postage on letters conveyed by private ship between this country and all +parts of the world, was reduced to a uniform rate of sixpence the +half-ounce. + +Nor were these reforms the only results of the wise rule of the Duke of +Argyll. Through his exertions, a postal convention was concluded with +France, resulting not only in a considerable reduction of postage on +letters passing between the two countries, but in the lowering of the +rate to all European countries, letters for which _went by way of +France_. An attempt was made to arrange a postal convention with the +United States during the year 1857, but like so many previous ones, it +came to nothing. + +The Duke of Argyll is also favourably remembered in the metropolitan +offices, for having granted--to the major establishment at any rate--the +boon of a Saturday half-holiday. + +But perhaps his Grace laboured most arduously to bring about a more +satisfactory relation between the railway companies and the Post-Office. +Since the advent of cheap postage, nothing had so much impeded the +progressive development of the Post-Office, as the adverse attitude of +the companies who must convey the mails, now that all other modes of +conveyance had been virtually superseded by the power of steam. Although +the Postmaster-General failed in this instance, he is none the less +entitled to the gratitude of the country for his well-meant attempt to +repair the mistake which the Executive originally made in not carefully +providing for the public service. Few could say that the existing law +was, and is, not defective. The gain to the Post-Office through railways +is certainly enormous: besides the advantage of increased speed, they +make it possible to get through the sorting and the carrying of the +mails at the same time. But here the gain ends; and the cost for the +service really done is heavy beyond all proportion. The cost of carrying +mails by coaches averaged twopence farthing a mile; the average cost +under railways is tenpence a mile, some railways charging nearly five +shillings per mile for the service they render. The cost of running a +train may be reckoned, in most cases, at fifteen pence per mile; and +thus the Post-Office, for the use of a fraction of a train, may be said +constantly to be paying at the rate of from sixty to three hundred per +cent. in excess of the whole cost of running! The Postmaster-General +stated that the terms upon which one railway company would undertake +postal service was totally disproportionate to those of a neighbouring +company. On the other hand, all the companies were alike dissatisfied, +however dissimilar the contracts, or the terms imposed and agreed +to.[133] Moreover, it was declared next to impossible to secure +regularity and punctuality in the conveyance of mails, and to agree to +amicable arbitration for the services which were done, until the +Legislature should lay down reasonable laws, binding all the companies +alike. A Bill was introduced into the House of Lords regulating the +arrangements between the Post-Office and the different companies. Though +it was carefully prepared, it was strongly opposed by the railway +interest in Parliament. The opposition was all the more unreasonable, +inasmuch as many of its clauses sought to remove objections to the +existing law which railway companies had frequently complained of. As +far as the Post-Office was concerned, it seems to have been the extent +of the wish of the authorities that the question of remuneration might +be based on the actual cost of running the trains, making due allowance, +on the one hand, for the benefits accruing to the companies from their +connexion with the mail service, and adding, on the other hand, +compensation for any special extra expenses to which the companies might +be subjected by the requirements of that service, _together with a full +allowance for profit_.[134] The Bill also provided for the more +extensive employment of ordinary passenger trains,--not, however, to the +supercession of the regular mail-trains--for the _exclusive_ employment +of certain trains for postal purposes, for penalties, &c. The measure +had been brought in late in the session, and was eventually withdrawn. +The Bill itself, with its twenty-one clauses, forms part of the Appendix +to the Postmaster-General's fourth report; and as the basis of +arrangements between the two interests is still unsettled and uncertain, +the Duke of Argyll there commends it to the careful attention of the +public, as well as to the fair consideration of the railway authorities +themselves. + +In 1858, on the accession of Lord Derby to power, Lord Colchester was +appointed to the Post-Office without a seat in the Cabinet. Improvements +continued during his short administration, both as regards inland, +foreign, and colonial postages; but nothing calls for special mention +here except an attempt on the part of the Post-Office to render the +payment of inland letters compulsory. The plan cannot be said to have +had a fair trial. Its benefits and advantages were not clearly apparent, +except to those who were acquainted with the machinery of the +Post-Office. While, without doubt, the principles upon which it was +based were sound, the objections to the arrangement lay on the surface, +and were such as could not be overcome except by the exercise of great +patience on the part of the public: the measure pressed heavily on +certain interests: a great portion of the less thoughtful organs of the +public press manifested considerable repugnance to it, and, in +consequence, the Postmaster-General was led to recommend to the +Treasury the withdrawal of the order after the expiration of a few weeks +of partial trial. As pointed out by Mr. Hill at the time, compulsory +prepayment of letters was a part of the original plan of penny postage; +it was one of the recommendations which he made having for their object +the simplification of accounts, and the more speedy delivery of letters. +The Secretary of the Post-Office in urging a fair trial of the +measure,[135] argued that after the lapse of a few months it would be +productive of good even to letter-writers, not to speak of the saving of +time, trouble, and expense to the Department. He very truly added that +there were no difficulties attributable to the new rule which might not +be surmounted by a little care or ingenuity. As it was, the public +preferred an immediate termination of the experiment to the possible and +problematical advantages that might arise from its continuance; and in +this instance the country was indulged by an early return to the old +plan. + +In the following year, Lord Colchester was succeeded by the late Earl of +Elgin as Postmaster-General, with a seat in Lord Palmerston's Cabinet. +When Lord Elgin was sent on the special mission to the East in 1860, the +Duke of Argyll held the joint offices of Lord Privy Seal and +Postmaster-General until a permanent successor was appointed in the +person of Lord Stanley of Alderley, who now (March, 1864) holds the +office. + +In 1859, the Money-order Office in London, and the money-order system +generally, were remodelled. By a process meant to simplify the accounts, +and other judicious alterations, a saving of 4,000_l._ a-year was +effected, while the public were benefited by some concessions that had +been much desired, such as the granting of money-orders up to the amount +of 10_l._ instead of 5_l._ The money-order system was likewise extended +to the colonies, the first connexion of the kind having been opened with +Canada and our European possessions of Gibraltar and Malta. It has +subsequently been extended to the principal British colonies, including +the whole of Australia. + +Important improvements were also made in the department charged with the +transmission of mails. Several accelerations--in one case a most +important one--were made in the speed of the principal mail-trains; the +number of travelling post-offices was increased; the construction of the +whole of them was improved; and the apparatus-machinery, attached to the +carriages for the exchange of mail-bags at those stations where the +mail-trains do not stop, was called more and more into requisition. + +Under the Earl of Elgin, the British Post-Office endeavoured to form +conventions with foreign countries, the object in all cases being the +increase of postal facilities. In the case of Spain and Portugal, the +authorities seem to have been successful, and partially so with the +German Postal Union. An attempt to renew negotiations with the United +States calls for mention here. The advocates of ocean penny postage (of +which so much was heard some years previously--not only a desirable, but +a practicable scheme) may thus obtain some idea of the difficulty of +coming to any reasonable arrangement between the two countries. We have +already stated that a former Postmaster-General urged upon the +Government of the United States the necessity of reduction in the rates +of postage of letters circulating from one country to the other, but was +unsuccessful at the time.[136] In 1859, the Postmaster-General of the +United States (Mr. Holt) communicated to the English Department his +concurrence in the principle of a reduction in the postage of British +letters from twenty-four to twelve cents, providing that England would +give America the lion's share of the proposed postage! The United +States' Government would agree to the change provided the new rate be +apportioned as follows, viz.:-- + + United States' Inland Postage 3 cents. + Sea Rate of Postage 7 " + British Inland Postage 2 " + +The Earl of Elgin objected to this proposal as not equitable. He argued, +with perfect truth and fairness, that each country ought to be +remunerated according to the value of the service it rendered, and that, +whether the inland service was considered (where the three items of +collection, conveyance,[137] and delivery must be taken into account), +or the sea service (undoubtedly better worked and regulated with us than +in America), this country had a fair claim to a larger share of postage +than the United States. As, however, an unrestricted intercourse between +the two countries was far more important than a nice adjustment in the +revision of the postage, the English Postmaster-General would only press +for equality, and proposed the following division:-- + + British Inland Postage 1_d._ or 2 cents. + Sea Postage 4_d._ " 8 " + United States' Inland Postage 1_d._ " 2 " + ----- --------- + 6_d._ 12 cents. + ----- --------- + +In the event of the American Government not being prepared to agree, +Lord Elgin proposed that a disinterested third party should be called +in, to whom the whole matter might be amicably referred. To this +communication no answer whatever was returned, and the English +Department had to wait until the next report of the United States +Post-Office was published, in order to ascertain how the proposals had +been received. It was found that Mr. Holt here complained that a +reasonable offer that he had made to England had been declined there, +"_and for reasons so unsatisfactory_, that for the present no +disposition is felt to pursue the matter further." It is sincerely to be +regretted that this great improvement, which would have been gladly +hailed by thousands on both sides of the Atlantic, should have been so +arrested, and especially that the United States' Government should have +been deaf to the proposition to send the matter to arbitrament. +Unquestionably, the present results, as well as the responsibility of +future exertion, lies at the door of the United States; and it is to be +hoped that, in justice to the thousands whom the Americans have +eagerly invited to populate their country--not to mention other +considerations--they will soon renew their efforts to obtain the boon of +a sixpenny postage, and be prepared to meet the mother-country on +reasonable grounds with equal terms. + +The postal service with Ireland being considered deficient, so much so, +that frequent mention was made of the subject in the House of Commons, a +new and special service was brought into operation on the 1st of +October, 1860. Night and day mail-trains have, on and from that date, +been run specially from Euston Square Station to Holyhead, and special +mail-steamers employed, at enormous expense, to cross the Channel. +Letter-sorting is carried on not only in the trains, but on board the +packets; nearly all the Post-Office work, including the preparation of +the letters for immediate delivery at London and Dublin respectively, +being accomplished on the journey between London and Dublin, and _vice +versâ_--a journey which is now accomplished in about twelve hours. By +means of this new service, a great saving of time is also effected on +the arrival and departure of most of the American and Canadian mails. +It cannot but be interesting to the reader who may have followed us as +we have endeavoured to trace the progress of post communication in this +country, to know how much is really possible under the improved +facilities of our own day. A better instance could not be afforded than +that occurring at the beginning of the year 1862, when the important +news on which depended peace or war was hourly expected from the United +States. Before the packet was due, the Inspector-General of Mails took +steps to expedite the new Irish mail service, to the greatest possible +extent, in its passage from Queenstown to London, and the result is so +clearly and accurately given in the _Times_ of the 8th of January, 1862, +that we cannot do better than quote the account entire:-- + +"The arrangements for expressing the American mails throughout from +Queenstown to London, which we described as being so successfully +executed with the mails brought by the _Africa_ last week, have been +repeated with still more satisfactory results in the case of the mails +brought by the _Europa_. These results are so exceptional that we record +them in detail. The _Europa_ arrived off Queenstown, about five miles +from the pier, at 9 P.M. on Monday night. Her mails and the despatches +from Lord Lyons were placed on board the small tender in waiting, and +arrived at the Queenstown Pier at 10.5 P.M., at which point they were +transferred to an express steamboat for conveyance by river to Cork. +Leaving Queenstown Pier at 10.10 P.M., they arrived alongside the quay +at Cork at 11.15 P.M. and thirteen minutes afterwards the special train +left the Cork station for Dublin, accomplishing the journey to Dublin +(166 miles) in four hours and three minutes, _i. e._ at a speed of about +41 miles an hour, including stoppage. The transmission through the +streets between the railway termini in Dublin and by special train to +Kingstown occupied only thirty-six minutes, and in four minutes more the +special mail-boat _Ulster_ was on her way to Holyhead. The distance +across the Irish Channel, about sixty-six statute miles, was performed +by the _Ulster_, against a contrary tide and heavy sea, in three hours +and forty-seven minutes, giving a speed of about seventeen and a half +miles an hour. The special train, which had been in waiting for about +forty-eight hours, left the Holyhead Station at 8.13 A.M., and it was +from this point that the most remarkable part of this rapid express +commenced. The run from Holyhead to Stafford, 130½ miles, occupied +only 145 minutes, being at the rate of no less than fifty-four miles an +hour; and although so high a speed was judiciously not attempted over +the more crowded portion of the line from Stafford to London, the whole +distance from Holyhead to Euston, 264 miles, was performed by the London +and North-Western Company in exactly five hours, or at a speed of about +52-2/3 miles an hour, a speed unparalleled over so long a line, crowded +with ordinary traffic. The entire distance from Queenstown Pier to +Euston Square, about 515 miles, was thus traversed in fifteen hours and +three minutes, or at an average speed of about thirty-four and a quarter +miles an hour, including all delays necessary for the several transfers +of the mails from boat to railway, or _vice versâ_.... By means of the +invention for supplying the tender with water from a trough _in +transitu_, the engine was enabled to run its first stage of 130½ +miles, from Holyhead to Stafford, without stopping." + +During the session of 1860-1, an Act was passed through Parliament for +the establishment of Post-Office Savings' Banks on a plan proposed by +Mr. Sykes, of Huddersfield. + +In order to encourage the registration of letters containing coin or +valuable articles, the registration fee was reduced, in 1862, from 6_d._ +to 4_d._ each letter. At the same time, the plan of compulsory +registration of letters was revived, and applied to all letters passing +through the _London Office_ which contained, or were supposed to +contain, coin. Last year the plan was found to have been so successful +in its results, that it was extended to _all inland letters_. The public +may judge of the benefits and blessings of this proscriptive +measure--to the officers of the Post-Office at any rate--when we state +that the convictions for letter-stealing, since the plan was fully +adopted, have been reduced more than ninety per cent. + +In 1862, the Pneumatic Conveyance Company set up a branch of their +operations at the Euston Square Station, London. The Post-Office took +advantage of this new mode of conveyance to send the mail-bags to the +North-Western District Office from this important railway terminus. The +work is, of course, accomplished with marvellous expedition. The +machinery for other localities is in course of construction, and may +ultimately extend all over the metropolis, to the supercession, as far +as the Post-Office is concerned, of the existing mail-vans. + +During the month of May, 1863, a Postal Congress--the first of the +kind--originated, we believe, by Mr. Rasson of the United States, +assembled at the _Bureau des Postes_, in the Rue Jean Jacques, Paris, +under the presidency of the French Postmaster-General, M. Vandal. The +object of the Congress was "the improvement of postal communication +between the principal commercial nations of the world." As we find that +the little republic of Ecuador was represented, the postal affairs of +_little_ kingdoms were also not overlooked. Each civilized nation was +asked to send a delegate, and all the most important States responded. +Mr. Frederic Hill, brother of Sir Rowland Hill, and Assistant Secretary, +was the English representative; the President represented France; M. +Metzler, Prussia; Mr. Rasson, the United States; M. Hencke, Hamburg, &c. +&c. The prepayment of foreign letters was one of the most difficult +subjects discussed. The Congress came to the conclusion that it would be +best to leave it optional with the writer of the letter whether the +postage should be paid to its destination, or paid on receipt; in the +latter case, however, it was thought desirable that a moderate +additional postage should be charged. Another important matter was +settled in a conclusive manner. It was first decided that the postage +of foreign letters should be regulated by weight: it then became highly +necessary, in order to the carrying out of this decision, that the +postage should be calculated by a common standard; hence the following +resolution, which was agreed to--"The metrical decimal system, being of +all systems of weighing that which is best suited to the requirements of +the postal service, it is expedient to adopt it for the international +postal relations, to the exclusion of every other system." Other +subjects of lesser importance, such as the route of foreign letters, the +division of postage rates, the transmission of coin in letters (which +they agreed to allow), were discussed very fully and, we are +assured, very amicably. The Congress seems to have arrived at a good +understanding of the principles of postal reciprocity, and good will +doubtless be the result. The Postal Congress of last year was a Peace +Congress of the most efficient kind, and in every sense of the term. + +Within the last ten years the facilities offered to letter-writers by +the Post-Office have materially increased. Four thousand additional +persons have had to be employed in the service, one half, at least, of +whom are engaged on account of the facilities and improvements in +question, whilst the remainder may be said to have been required by the +gradual increase of work in the establishment. The establishment of +mid-day mails, increasing the number of daily deliveries in almost every +provincial town; the acceleration of night-mails, allowing more time for +posting in some places, and earlier deliveries in all; the increase in +the number of village posts, to the extent of between three and four +hundred every year; the gradual extension of free deliveries; the +establishment of pillar letter-boxes as receptacles for letters; +reductions in the rate of foreign and colonial letters, and also in the +registration fee for home letters; the division of London, and to some +extent other large towns, like Liverpool, into districts; and above all, +the establishment of thousands of new savings' banks on safe principles, +in connexion with improved money-order offices; are some of the +principal advantages and facilities to which we refer. The past ten +years have been years of great, gradual, and unexampled improvement. Nor +is there anything but progress and advancement in prospect. The fact is, +that the Post-Office is capable of infinite extension and growth: +besides it belongs to the nation, and the people will expect the +development of the utmost of its utilities. At the present time the +experiment is being tried whether, without impairing its efficiency or +the performance of its more proper business, the Post-Office can +undertake the distribution of stamps; and it is not impossible, +considering that it has at its command an organization which penetrates +the entire kingdom, as no other private or public institution does, that +the Stamp Department may be transferred to the control of the +Postmaster-General. + +Further, there is no doubt but that Mr. Gladstone's Bill, if passed +through Parliament, "to amend the law relating to Government Annuities," +will have a most important effect upon the Post-Office institution.[138] +It is true that under the Savings' Bank Act any person may purchase a +deferred annuity through the Post-Office, only the clause making it +necessary to pay the purchase-money in one sum has a direct deterrent +effect upon the measure. The provisions of the new Bill, on the +contrary, allow the purchase-money to be paid in even weekly +instalments. Equally important is the second part of the Bill, which +empowers the Government to assure a person's life for 100_l._ It is +proposed to draft all this extra business on to the Post-Office +establishment, and no interest, except the insurance company interest, +is likely to say nay. Until assurance or other companies can appoint +agents, and open out offices in every town and village, the Government +is likely to have a monopoly of any business it chooses to undertake. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[130] _Life of Sir James Graham._ By Mr. T. MacCullagh Torrens, vol. ii. + +[131] Postmaster-General's _First Report_, p. 35. + +[132] So late as the year 1842, a letter posted at any London +receiving-house after _two_ in the afternoon was not delivered at +Islington until the next morning.--Postmaster-General's _Second Report_. + +[133] See Address by the late Mr. Robert Stephenson on his election to +the Presidency of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1855, given in +the Appendix to the larger edition of Mr. Smiles' _Life of George +Stephenson_, and also a reply to it from the Inspector-General of +Mails.--Postmaster-General's _Second Report_, pp. 45-55. + +[134] Appendix to Postmaster-General's _Second Report_, p. 51. + +[135] _Fifth Report_, Appendix, pp. 43-8. + +[136] During the progress of one of these negotiations the following +memorandum, written by Mr. Bancroft, American Minister, is so +characteristic of his people that we are tempted to amuse our readers +with its reproduction entire.--Postmaster-General's _First Report_, +Appendix, p. 83. "Approved as far as 'the rate for sea.' What follows is +superfluous and objectionable. Make your rates (England) to your +colonies and possessions, and foreign countries, what you please, high +or low, one sea-rate or a dozen, or none at all; one inland rate or a +dozen, or none at all. What your people pay we are willing to pay, but +not more, and _vice versâ_. Our security is, that we pay what your +people pay from the same place for the same benefit, and _vice versâ_." + +[137] In America letters are certainly carried much greater distances, +at the uniform charge of three cents, than with us for a penny; but it +must be borne in mind that there are no official deliveries of letters +in the United States. + +[138] It is possible that this useful measure may be delayed. However it +is, the Post-Office machinery is ready for this incidental application, +and it is surely thrifty to make the most of available resources, though +they may have been originally provided for very different purposes. + + + + +PART II. + +DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + +"It has often struck me that some pains should be taken to make the main +features of the Post-Office system intelligible to the people."--_Speech +of Mr. Rowland Hill at Liverpool_, 1847. + + + + +PREFATORY. + + +It is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of the postal +regulations of this country. Every section of society, and, to some +extent, every individual, participates in the benefits--commercial, +social, and moral--bestowed by our cheap Post-Office. It is not our +purpose here to urge the value and utility of the Post-Office +institution--which most of our readers gratefully admit--but rather to +furnish some general information relative to the organization and +ordinary working of the Department, sensible that an intelligible +account of the principal features in the system will increase the +interest already felt in the Post-Office, as a mighty engine spreading +the influences of commerce, education, and religion throughout the +world. The Postmaster-General for 1854, in starting an annual report of +the Post-Office, stated that "many misapprehensions and complaints arise +from an imperfect knowledge of matters which might, without any +inconvenience, be placed before the public;" and also, "that the +publicity thus given will be an advantage to the Department itself, and +will have a good effect upon the working of many of its branches." + +Endeavouring to exclude all matter that is purely technical, and +presenting the reader with no more statistical information than is +necessary to a proper understanding of the subject, and only premising +that this information--for the correctness of which we are alone +responsible--has been carefully collated from a mass of official +documents not easily accessible, and others presented to the public from +time to time, we will first describe-- + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE ORGANIZATION OF THE POST-OFFICE. + + +The Post-Office being a branch of the public service, instituted by +statute, is, of course, under the control of the Government of the +country in every respect. The principal Acts of Parliament which now +regulate the Post-Office are those of 1 Vict. c. 32-36, entitled "An Act +to repeal the several laws relating to the Post-Office;" "An Act for the +management of the Post-Office;" "An Act for consolidating the laws +relative to offences against the Post-Office;" one to which we have +previously referred, 2 Vict. c. 98, "An Act to provide for the +conveyance of mails by railway;" 3 & 4 Vict. c. 96, "An Act for the +regulation of the duties of Postage." Besides these more important Acts, +there are others of later date relating to the Money-order Office, +colonial posts, and, more recently, one relating to the Post-Office +Savings' Banks. + +According to the latest returns,[139] there are 11,316 post-offices in +the United Kingdom, of which 808 are head-offices, and 10,508 +sub-offices. To these must be added a great number of road letter-boxes, +making a total of 14,776 public receptacles for letters, or more by +10,000 than the total number before penny postage. The total number of +letters passing through the Post-Office during the year 1863 was +642,000,000, or, in the proportion of letters to population, no less +than 22 to each person in the three kingdoms. As contrasted with the +last year of dear postage, the number of letters show an _eightfold_ +increase. The distance over which the mails travel with this enormous +amount of correspondence, in the United Kingdom alone, is nearly 160,000 +miles per day. Of the mails conveyed by railway, a distance of 50,000 +miles is accomplished every working-day; 72,000 miles per diem are +traversed on foot; and the rest are carried by mail-coaches, mail-carts, +and steamboats. + +The gross revenue of the Post-Office for the year 1863 was, in round +numbers, 3,800,000_l._, being more by nearly a quarter of a million +sterling than the proceeds for the year 1862. Of this enormous total, +England contributed upwards of 3,000,000_l._, the remainder having been +raised from Ireland and Scotland. To this sum should be added a further +item of 130,000_l._ for the impressed stamp on newspapers sent through +the post, the charges for which are collected by the Commissioners of +Inland Revenue. The actual expenditure of the Department, including the +expenses of mail-packets (great part of which appertain to the +Admiralty), amounted, in round numbers, to 3,000,000_l._ The amount of +all the items belonging exclusively to Post-Office charges is, however, +less than two and a quarter millions. The net revenue of the Post-Office +for 1863 may, therefore, be stated at 1,790,000_l._; or, counting the +whole of the packet expenses--which mode of reckoning, however, would +lead to erroneous notions of the financial success of penny postage--to +a clear revenue of 900,000_l._ + +At the end of 1862, the staff of officers employed in the British +Post-Office numbered 25,380. Of this number 25,285 were engaged in the +British Isles, 73 in foreign countries (as agents collecting the British +share of foreign postage), and 22 in the colonies.[140] Of the +_employés_ at home, between 3,000 and 4,000 are attached to the London +Office alone, while the remainder, including more than 11,000 +postmasters, belong to the establishments in the various towns and +villages of the United Kingdom. The entire staff is under the immediate +control of the Postmaster-General, assisted by the General Secretary of +the Post-Office in London. The service of the three kingdoms, +notwithstanding this direct control, is managed in the respective +capitals, at each of which there is a chief office, with a secretarial +and other departmental staffs.[141] + +_The Postmaster-General_, the highest controlling authority at the +Post-Office representing the Executive, is now always a peer of +the realm, a member of the Privy Council, and generally, though +not necessarily, a Cabinet Minister. Of course he changes with +the Government. As we have seen in the origin of the office, he +holds his appointment by patent granted under the Great Seal. The +Postmaster-General has in his gift all the postmasterships in England +and Wales where the salary is not less than 120_l._ per annum (all under +that sum being in the gift of the Treasury Lords), and to those in +Ireland and Scotland where the salary is 100_l._ and upwards. Besides +this amount of patronage, now dispensed to officers already in the +service, he has the power of nomination to all vacancies in the General +Post-Offices of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.[142] The following +noblemen have occupied the position of Postmaster-General during the +last forty years, or since the joint Postmaster-Generalship was +abolished in 1823,[143] viz. Earl of Chichester (1823), Lord Frederick +Montague (1826), Duke of Manchester (1827), Duke of Richmond (1830), +appointed Postmaster-General of Great Britain and Ireland the year +after; Marquis of Conyngham (July, 1834), Lord Maryborough (December, +1834), Marquis of Conyngham again (May, 1835), Earl of Lichfield (June, +1835), Viscount Lowther (September, 1841), Earl St. Germains (June, +1846), Marquis of Clanricarde (July, 1846). Still more recently, we find +the Earl of Hardwicke, Viscount Canning, Duke of Argyll (twice), Lord +Colchester, the Earl of Elgin, and Lord Stanley of Alderley. + +_The Secretary of the Post-Office_ holds the highest fixed appointment +in the establishment, and may be regarded, therefore, as the responsible +adviser of the Postmaster-General. The principal secretaries during the +century have been Francis Freeling, Esq. (1797), created a baronet in +1828; Lieut.-Colonel William Leader Maberly (1836); Rowland Hill, Esq. +(1856), knighted in 1860; and, as at present, John Tilley, Esq. +(1864).[144] + +The chief office in London is divided into six principal departments, +each under the charge of a chief officer. These heads of departments are +severally responsible to the Postmaster-General for the efficiency and +discipline of their respective branches. Something like the same +arrangement, though on a much smaller scale, is preserved in the +less-important chief offices of Edinburgh and Dublin. The branches in +question consist of--(1) The Secretary's Office; (2) The Solicitor's +Office; (3) The Mail Office; (4) The Receiver and Accountant-General's +Office; (5) The Money-order Office; and (6) The Circulation Office. + +1. _The Secretary's Office_ exercises a general _surveillance_ over all +the other departments of the Post-Office, including, of course, all +provincial offices. It is the medium of communication with the Lords of +the Treasury, and also with the public. All important matters +originating in other branches, or in country offices, pass through this +office to the Postmaster-General, returning through the same channel. In +1763, the secretaries of the Post-Office had one clerk and two +supernumerary clerks assigned to them. Now, the three secretaries are +assisted in their duties by one chief clerk, one principal clerk for +foreign and colonial business, sixteen senior clerks, and thirty-eight +clerks in other two classes. There is also a force of nineteen +supplementary clerks, five official paper-keepers, and nineteen +messengers.[145] + +2. _The Solicitor's Office_, as its name implies, deals with the law +business of the Post-Office. It gives employment to a solicitor, an +assistant-solicitor, and four clerks. + +3. _The Mail Office_ has to do with all matters connected with the +transmission of mails, whether the conveyance be by railroad, water, or +stage-coach. Attached to this office are the travelling post-offices of +the country, which are under its exclusive management. The Mail Office +arranges with the different railway companies for the conveyance of the +mails, in the contracts for which are included provision for the +employment of post-offices fitted up in railway-carriages; it +also looks to the proper performance of each post-office contract +embracing mail-conveyance. The staff of the Mail Office comprises an +inspector-general of mails, a deputy inspector-general, two principal +clerks, and twenty-one clerks in three classes. The connexion between +the Mail Office in London and its important adjuncts, the travelling +post-offices, is kept up by a staff of five inspectors of mails (three +employed in England, one in Scotland, and one in Ireland), a supervisor +of mail-bag apparatus, and several subordinate officers. The travelling +offices employ a force of 54 clerks in three classes, and 139 sorters in +four classes. + +4. _The Receiver and Accountant-General's Office_ takes account of the +money of each department, remittances being received here from all the +other branches and each provincial town in England. General accounts of +revenue and expenditure are also kept, this office being charged with +the examination of the postage and revenue accounts of each postmaster. +All salaries, pensions, and items of current expenditure are also paid +through this office. In 1763, the duties of these offices, then +distinct, were performed by a receiver, an accountant, and four clerks. +Now, the appointments comprise the receiver and accountant-general, a +chief examiner, a chief cashier, a principal book-keeper, with +forty-seven clerks in three classes, and nine messengers. + +5. _The Money-order Office_, occupying a separate building in Aldersgate +Street, takes charge of the whole of the money-order business of the +country, in addition to doing an enormous amount of work as a +money-order office for the metropolis. Of course, everything relating to +this particular branch of post-office business, and also some part of +the savings' bank accounts, pass through this channel. Each provincial +postmaster sends a daily account of his transactions to this office. +Attached to the Money-order Office, we find a controller, a chief clerk, +an examiner, a book-keeper, 112 clerks in three classes, and 27 +messengers. + +6. _The Circulation Office_ in London manages the ordinary post-office +work of the metropolis. In it, or from it, all the letters, newspapers, +and book-packets posted at, or arriving in, London, are sorted, +despatched, and delivered. Not only so; but in this office nearly all +the continental, and most part of the other foreign mails for the whole +of the British Islands, are received, sorted, and despatched. Under +ordinary circumstances, moreover, British letters for a great number of +places are sent in transit through London, where it is requisite they +should be rearranged and forwarded. This daily Herculean labour is +performed by the clerks, sorters, and letter-carriers attached to the +department. The ten district-offices in London, engaged with the same +kind of work on a small scale, are subordinate to the Circulation Office +at St. Martin's-le-Grand. The Registered Letter Branch, employing no +less than fifty clerks, and the Returned Letter Branch, with the Office +for Blind Letters, are parts of the Circulation Department. The _major_ +branch of the Circulation Office comprises the controller, a +vice-controller, 15 deputy-controllers, and 251 clerks in three classes. +The _minor_ establishment, as it is called, employs no fewer than 2,398 +persons. In this force are included 42 inspectors of letter-carriers in +three classes; the rest, being composed of sorters, stampers, +letter-carriers, and messengers. + +To these six principal departments may now be added that for the +management of the new _Post-Office Savings' Banks_. Like the Money-order +Office, it occupies a separate building, in St. Paul's Churchyard. The +Savings' Bank Department keeps a personal account with every depositor. +It acknowledges the receipt of every single deposit, and upon the +requisite notice being furnished to the office, it sends out warrants +authorizing postmasters to pay withdrawals. Each year the savings' +bank-book of each depositor is sent here for examination, and at the +same time the interest accruing is calculated and allowed. The +correspondence with postmasters and the public on any subject connected +with the banks in question is managed entirely by this department. The +already-existing machinery of the Post-Office has been freely called +into operation, and the business of the new banks has increased the work +of almost all the other branches, especially those of the Receiver and +Accountant-General's and the Money-order Offices. Through the former all +the investments are received, and all remittances to postmasters for the +repayment of deposits are made; while the surplus revenue goes from that +office direct to that of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the +National Debt. Again, and as another instance of our meaning, the +Money-order Office is required to undertake the examination of the +general savings' bank account of each provincial postmaster. The staff +of the Savings' Bank Office in London is not yet complete, nor will it +be until the complete effect of the new on the old savings' bank +system be seen.[146] At present, it comprises a controller, an +assistant-controller, a principal clerk, ten first-class clerks (four of +upper and six of lower section), fifteen second-class clerks, with a +number of third-class clerks, and six messengers. + +The branches of minor importance and the miscellaneous officers of the +London Establishment, consist of a _Medical Department_, comprising one +medical officer, one assistant medical officer, and one messenger. There +are, besides, distinct medical officers attached to each of the London +districts. The amount required for this service for 1863-4, including +medicine (given gratuitously to all officers who are not in receipt of +150_l._ salary), is 1,715_l._ _A House-keeper's Department_, including a +housekeeper and sixteen female servants, requiring a yearly payment of +763_l._ Six engineers, ten constables, and six firemen are also +constantly employed and paid by the Post-Office. When we add to this +gigantic organization no less than 516 letter-receivers in London, who +receive from 4_l._ to 90_l._ a-year for partial service, the reader will +have a tolerably correct idea of the establishment required to compass +the amount of London postal business in the twenty-fourth year of penny +postage.[147] + + +_The Surveyor's Department_ is the connecting medium between the +metropolitan offices and the post-offices in provincial towns. The +postmasters of the latter are under the immediate supervision of the +surveyor of the district in which the towns are situate, and it is to +this superior officer that they are primarily responsible for the +efficient working and discipline of their respective staff of +officers. Among the many responsible duties of the surveyors, may be +mentioned[148] those of visiting periodically each office in their +district, to remedy, where they can, all defects in the working of the +postal system; to remove, when possible, all just grounds of complaint +on the part of the public; "to give to the correspondence of their +district increased celerity, regularity, and security" when opportunity +offers, and to arrange for contracts with these objects. The Act of +Queen Anne provided for the appointment of one surveyor to the +Post-Office, whose duties it should be to make proper surveys of +post-roads. Little more than a hundred years ago, one of these +functionaries was sufficient to compass the duty of surveyor in England. +There are now thirteen surveyors in the United Kingdom,[149] nine of +whom are located in England, two in Ireland, and two in Scotland. These +principal officers are assisted in their duties by thirty-two +"surveyors' clerks," arranged in two classes, and thirteen stationary +clerks. To this staff must also be added thirty-three "clerks in +charge," in two classes, who are under the direction of the surveyors, +and whose principal duty consists in supplying temporarily the position +of postmaster, in case of vacancies occurring through deaths, removals, +&c. + +There are, in all, 542 head provincial establishments in England and +Wales, 141 in Ireland, and 115 in Scotland. They vary exceedingly, no +two being exactly alike, but are settled in each town pretty much in +proportion to the demands of the place, its size, trade, &c. Sometimes, +however, the _position_ of a town--the centre of a district, for +instance--gives it more importance in an official sense than it would +otherwise acquire from other and ordinary circumstances. The number of +sub-offices attached to each town also varies greatly, according to the +position of the head-office.[150] Next to the three chief offices, the +largest establishments are those of Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, +Birmingham, and Bristol. Among the most important offices of the second +class, we may enumerate Aberdeen, Bath, Belfast, Cork, Exeter, Leeds, +Hull, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Norwich, Sheffield, Southampton, and York.[151] +With respect to the rest, classification would be difficult; the +postmasters receiving salaries ranging from 20_l._ to 400_l._ per annum, +and varying from those where the whole of the duty of the office is +performed by the postmaster himself, to others where he is assisted by a +large staff of clerks and other auxiliaries.[152] + +Each head-postmaster is directly responsible for the full efficiency and +proper management of his office. Under the approval of the district +surveyor, the sanction of the Postmaster-General, and the favourable +report of the Civil Service Commissioners, the postmaster is allowed to +appoint nearly the whole of his own officers, he being responsible to +the authorities for their proper discipline and good conduct. Formerly, +and up to as late as eight years ago, each postmaster rendered an +account of his transactions to the chief office quarterly. He now +furnishes weekly general accounts, and daily accounts of money-order +business, besides keeping his book open to the inspection of the +superior officers of the Post-Office.[153] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[139] Postmaster-General's _Reports_, 1863, 1864, and _Revenue +Estimates_ for 1864-5, from which the whole of our statistics are +derived. + +[140] The colonial post-offices proper are not under the rule of the +English Postmaster-General. All appointments to these offices are made +by the Colonial Secretary, if the salary is over 200_l._; if under that +sum, by the Governors of the different colonies. + +[141] An attempt was made at further centralization a few years ago, +when it was proposed to reduce the chief offices of Edinburgh and Dublin +to the position of offices in other large towns, a measure which had the +effect of rousing the people of the sister-countries to arms. The +Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry who sat in 1855 reported against +the proposal, considering the present system to possess advantages to +the public over those accruing from the suggested change. + +[142] For information relative to the necessary qualifications, +examinations, &c. of candidates for appointment in the metropolitan or +provincial offices, see Appendix (C). + +[143] The following list of Postmasters-General before this period, +taken from a return made to the House of Commons, March 25, 1844, may +not be uninteresting to some of our readers. After Sir Brian Tuke, the +first "Master of the Postes," we find his successors to have been Sir +William Paget, one of Henry VIII.'s Chief Secretaries of State, and John +Mason, Esq. "Secretary for the French Tongue." "The fees or wages" of +each of these functionaries are given at 66_l._ 13_s._ 6_d._ a-year. The +reader will be familiar with the Postmasters-General under Elizabeth, +James I., Charles I. and the Commonwealth. Coming to the reign of +Charles II. we find Philip Froude, Esq. acting for the Duke of York from +1678 to 1688. + + WILLIAM AND MARY. + + Sir Robert Cotton; Thomas Frankland, Esq. 1690-1708 + + QUEEN ANNE. + + Sir Thomas Frankland; Sir John Evelyn 1708-1715 + + GEORGE I. + + Lord Cornwallis; James Craggs, Esq. 1715-1720 + Edward Carteret, Esq.; Galfridus Walpole 1720-1733 + + GEORGE II. + + Edward Carteret, Esq.; Lord Thomas Lovel 1733-1739 + Sir John Eyles; Lord Lovel 1739-1744 + Lord Lovel alone (now Earl of Leicester) 1744-1759 + Earl of Besborough 1759 + + GEORGE III. + + Earl of Egmont; Hon. R. Hampden 1762 + Lord Hyde; Hon. R. Hampden 1763 + Earl of Besborough; Lord Grantham 1765 + Earl of Sandwich; Lord de Spencer 1768 + Viscount Barrington; Hon. Henry Carteret 1782 + Earl of Tankerville; Hon. H. Carteret 1784 + Lord Carteret; Lord Walsingham 1787 + Lord Walsingham; Earl of Chesterfield 1790 + Earl of Chesterfield; Earl of Leicester 1794 + Earl of Leicester; Lord Auckland 1798 + Lord Auckland; Lord Charles Spencer 1801 + Lord Spencer; Duke of Montrose 1804 + Earl of Buckinghamshire; Earl of Carysfort 1806 + Earl of Chichester alone 1814 + Earl of Chichester; Marquis of Salisbury 1816 + +When the Earl of Salisbury died in 1823, a successor was not appointed, +the joint office being abolished, principally through the exertions of +the late Marquis of Normanby. + +[144] See Appendix (A). + +[145] For further information respecting this and all the other +metropolitan offices, see Appendix (D). Extracts from the Revenue +Estimates of 1864-5. + +[146] The closing of the Birmingham old Savings' Bank, for example, must +have greatly increased the work of the central office, and this will +follow as a consequence if in other large towns the example of +Birmingham be followed. + +[147] Large as this staff undoubtedly is, it would have been larger but +for timely changes in the system of keeping accounts. In 1855 the Civil +Service Commission suggested various improvements in the organization, +which resulted in a decrease of officers attached to some of the +branches. + +[148] Postmaster General's _Second Report_. + +[149] See Appendix (A). + +[150] _Head-office_ is the official term given to the independent +post-towns, and such as are only subordinate to one of the three +metropolitan offices. _Sub-offices_ are, of course, under the +head-offices. _Receiving-offices_, at which letters are received, but +not delivered, are also under the authority of the head-office of the +neighbourhood. Those post-offices at which money-orders are issued +and paid are designated _Money-order Offices_, and include all +the head-offices and a large number of sub-offices, and a few +receiving-offices. _Packet-Offices_ are those at which the regular +mail-packets (ship-letters may be received or despatched. at any port) +are received and from which they are despatched. London and Southampton +are packet-offices for the Continental Mails, the East and West Indies, +and South America. Liverpool, and Queenstown take the United States and +Canada. The mail-packets for the Cape of Good Hope and the West Coast of +Africa sail to and from Devonport. + +[151] For further information respecting these offices, see Appendix +(D), _Revenue Estimates_; also, for a statement of the amount of postage +collected in our largest towns, see Appendix (E). + +[152] The staff of the largest provincial offices usually consists of +clerks, sorters, stampers, messengers, letter-carriers, and rural +post-messengers. The _clerks_ are now principally engaged on clerical +duties, attending to the public on money-order business, &c. or in +connexion with registered letters or unpaid-letter accounts. In offices +where the staff is smaller, the clerks also engage in sorting and +despatching letters. In many small country towns females are employed as +clerks. The _sorters_ are principally engaged in sorting duties. +_Stampers_ and _messengers_ do duties such as their designations denote. +_Letter-carriers_--the familiar "postmen" of every household--are almost +exclusively engaged in delivering letters, &c. from door to door. +_Auxiliary letter-carriers_ are those only partially so employed, +principally on the largest, or early morning delivery. _Rural +post-messengers_ is the official name for "country postmen," who make +daily journeys among the villages and hamlets surrounding each town, +delivering and taking up letters on their way. + +[153] For fuller information on this head, see Appendix, to the +Postmaster-General's _First Report_, pp. 71-4. The following forms part +of a later Document (_Ninth Report_, 1862-3), and is interesting enough +to be quoted entire: "Owing to the successful measures which the +Department has adopted by means of bonds, frequent supervision, and care +in the selection of persons admitted into the service, and afterwards +promoted therein, very few losses have occurred, of late years at least, +through defalcation. More than twenty years ago, however, a postmaster +who owed the office 2,000_l._ but who had given security for only a part +of that sum, absconded, leaving an unpaid debt of upwards of 1,000_l._ +The recovery of the debt had long been considered hopeless, but a short +time ago a letter was unexpectedly received from the postmaster's son +enclosing a remittance in payment of part of his father's debt, and +expressing a hope that after a time he should be able to pay the +remainder--a hope which was soon realized, every farthing of the debt +having now been discharged, in a manner most creditable to the gentleman +concerned." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON THE CIRCULATION OF LETTERS. + + +In order to give the reader a proper idea of the channel through which +ordinary correspondence flows--the circulation of letters in the +Post-Office system--it will be necessary to devote a long chapter to the +subject. We therefore propose to post an imaginary letter in the +metropolis for a village in the far away North, following it from its +place of posting till we finally see it deposited in the hands of the +person to whom it is addressed. + + +THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE. + +The General Post-Office, the great heart of the English postal system, +is a fine and, now that so many district offices are opened in London, +very convenient building. On the ground-floor the different offices +attached to the Circulation and Mail departments are located. Upstairs +we find the Secretary's department, that of the Receiver and +Accountant-General, and other branches of the Circulation Office. +Approaching the large hall of the General Post-Office, through one of +the three-columned porticoes, we post our letter, and as it is now +nearly six o'clock P.M. we stand aside, for a few minutes only, to +witness one of the most stirring scenes in the metropolis. Throughout +the day, one side of the hall presents a busy enough scene, and its +boxes, open for the receipt of correspondence for all parts of the +world, are constantly beset with people. Not only do these huge slits +still gape for letters, but the large windows, closed through the day, +are thrown wide open as a quarter to six chimes from the neighbouring +clocks. It is then that an impetuous crowd enters the hall, and letters +and newspapers begin to fall in quite a literary hail-storm. The +newspaper window, ever yawning for more, is presently surrounded and +besieged by an array of boys of all ages and costumes, together with +children of a larger growth, who are all alike pushing, heaving, and +surging in one great mass. The window, with tremendous gape, is +assaulted with showers of papers which fly thicker and faster than the +driven snow. Now it is that small boys of eleven and twelve years of +age, panting, Sinbad-like, under the weight of huge bundles of +newspapers, manage somehow to dart about and make rapid _sorties_ into +other ranks of boys, utterly disregarding the cries of the official +policemen, who vainly endeavour to reduce the tumult into something like +post-office order. If the lads cannot quietly and easily disembogue, +they will whiz their missiles of intelligence over other people's heads, +now and then sweeping off hats and caps with the force of shot. The +gathering every moment increases in number and intensifies in purpose; +arms, legs, sacks, baskets, heads, bundles, and woollen comforters--for +whoever saw a veritable newspaper-boy without that appendage?--seem to +be getting into a state of confusion and disagreeable communism, and +"yet the cry is still they come." Heaps of papers of widely-opposed +political views are thrown in together; no longer placed carefully in +the openings, they are now sent in in sackfuls and basketfuls, while +over the heads of the surging crowd were flying back the empty sacks, +thrown out of the office by the porters inside. Semi-official legends, +with a very strong smack of probability about them, tell of sundry boys +being thrown in, seized, emptied, and thrown out again _void_. As six +o'clock approaches still nearer and nearer, the turmoil increases more +perceptibly, for the intelligent British public is fully alive to the +awful truth that the Post-Office officials never allow a minute of +grace, and that "Newspaper Fair" must be over when the last stroke of +six is heard. _One_, in rush files of laggard boys who have purposely +loitered, in the hope of a little pleasurable excitement; _two_, and +grown men hurry in with their last sacks; _three_, the struggle +resembles nothing so much as a pantomimic _mêlée_; _four_, a Babel of +tongues vociferating desperately; _five_, final and furious showers of +papers, sacks, and bags; and _six_, when all the windows fall like so +many swords of Damocles, and the slits close with such a sudden and +simultaneous snap, that we naturally suppose it to be a part of the +Post-Office operations that attempts should be made to guillotine a +score of hands; and then all is over so far as the outsiders are +concerned. + +Among the letter-boxes, scenes somewhat similar have been enacted. +Letters of every shape and colour, and of all weights have unceasingly +poured in; tidings of life and death, hope and despair, success and +failure, triumph and defeat, joy and sorrow; letters from friends and +notes from lawyers, appeals from children and stern advice from parents, +offers from anxious-hearted young gentlemen, and "first yesses" or +refusals from young maidens; letters containing that snug appointment so +long promised you, and "little bills" with requests for immediate +payment, "together with six-and-eightpence;" cream-coloured missives +telling of happy consummations, and black-edged envelopes telling of +death and the grave; sober-looking advice notes, doubtless telling when +"our Mr. Puffwell" would do himself the honour of calling on you, and +elegant-looking billets in which business is never mentioned, all +jostled each other for a short time; but the stream of gladness and of +woe was stopped, at least for one night, when the last stroke of six was +heard. The Post-Office, like a huge monster, to which one writer has +likened it, has swallowed an enormous meal, and gorged to the full, it +must now commence the process of digestion. While laggard boys, to whom +cartoons by one "William Hogarth" should be shown, are muttering "too +late," and retiring discomfited, we, having obtained the requisite "open +sesame," will make our way to the interior of the building. Threading +our course through several passages, we soon find ourselves among +enormous apartments well lit up, where hundreds of human beings are +moving about, lifting, shuffling, stamping, and sorting huge piles of +letters, and still more enormous piles of newspapers, in what seems at +first sight hopeless confusion, but in what is really the most admirable +order. In the newspaper-room, men have been engaged not only in emptying +the sacks flung in by strong-armed men and weak-legged boys, but also in +raking up the single papers into large baskets, and conveying them up +and down "hoists," into various divisions of the building. Some estimate +of the value of these mechanical appliances, moved of course by steam +power, may be formed from the fact that hundreds of tons of paper pass +up and down these lifts every week. As many of the newspapers escape +from their covers in the excitement of posting, each night two or three +officers are busily engaged during the whole time of despatch, in +endeavouring to restore wrappers to newspapers found without any +address. Great as is the care exercised in this respect, it will +occasionally happen that wrong newspapers will find their way into loose +wrappers not belonging to them, and under the circumstances it would be +by no means a matter of wonder if--as has been more than once pointed +out--Mr. Bright should, instead of his _Morning Star_, receive a copy of +the _Saturday Review_, or an evangelical curate the _Guardian_ or +_Punch_, in place of his _Record_ paper. + +In the letter-room the officers are no less busily engaged: a number of +them are constantly at work during the hours of the despatch, in the +operation of placing each letter with the address and postage label +uppermost, so as to facilitate the process of stamping. In the General +Post-Office the stamping is partly effected by machinery and partly by +hand, and consists simply in imprinting upon each letter the date, hour, +and place of posting, while at the same time the Queen's head with +which the letter is ornamented and franked gets disfigured.[154] It will +easily be imagined that a letter containing a box of pills stands a very +good chance of being damaged under this manipulation, as a good stamper +will strike about fifty letters in a minute. Unpaid letters are kept +apart, as they require stamping in a different coloured ink and with the +double postage. Such letters create much extra labour, and are a source +of incessant trouble to the Department, inasmuch as from the time of +their posting in London to their delivery at the Land's End or John +O'Groat's, every officer through whose hands they may pass has to keep a +cash account of them. The double postage on such letters is more than +earned by the Post-Office. All unfastened and torn letters, too, are +picked out and conveyed to another portion of the large room, and it +requires the unremitting attention of several busy individuals to finish +the work left undone by the British public. It is scarcely credible that +above 250 letters daily are posted _open_, and bearing not the slightest +mark of ever having been fastened in any way; but such is the fact. A +fruitful source of extra work to this branch of the office arises +through the posting of flimsy boxes containing feathers, slippers, and +other _récherché_ articles of female dress, pill-boxes containing +jewellery, and even bottles. The latter, however, are detained, glass +articles and sharp instruments of any sort, whenever detected, being +returned to the senders. These frail things, thrown in and buried under +the heaps of correspondence, get crushed and broken, yet all are made up +again carefully and resealed. + +When the letters have been stamped, and those insufficiently paid picked +out, they are carried away to undergo the process of sorting. In this +operation they are very rapidly divided into "roads," representing a +line of large towns: thus, letters for Derby, Loughborough, Nottingham, +Lincoln, &c. might be placed in companionship in one division or "road," +and Bilston, Wednesbury, Walsall, West Bromwich, &c. in another. When +this primary divisional sorting is finished, the letters are divided and +subdivided over and over again, with the exception of those for the +various travelling sorting-carriages upon the different lines of +railway, which remain in divisions corresponding with various portions +of the country through which the several mail-trains run. It is into one +of these divisions that our own letter falls, to be seen again, however, +when we come to describe the Travelling Post-Offices. During the time +occupied in making up the mails, the Circulation Branch of the General +Post-Office presents a busy scene, yet retains the utmost order and +regularity. Hundreds of men are engaged in the various operations of +sorting and sub-sorting, yet all proceeds really noiselessly, and as if +the hundreds and thousands of letters representing the commerce and +intelligence of the English people could not be treated too carefully. +Every now and again the sorter pauses in his rapid movements, and places +a letter on one side. In some cases this signifies that he has detected +a letter containing a _coin_ of some sort; and when such letters have +been posted without being registered by the sender, the Department takes +this duty upon itself, charging a double fee on delivery. The number of +letters of this class detected in London alone during the first six +months after the plan was brought into operation, was upwards of 58,000. +Letters which cannot be read, or letters imperfectly addressed, are also +thrown on one side and conveyed to another part of the Circulation +Branch, where gentlemen whose extraordinary faculty of discernment have +gained them the singularly inappropriate name of "blind officers" sit in +state. + + +THE BLIND LETTER-OFFICE + +is the receptacle for all illegible, misspelt, misdirected, or +insufficiently addressed letters or packets. Here the clerk or clerks, +selected from amongst the most efficient and experienced officers, guess +at what ordinary intelligence would readily denominate insoluble +riddles. Large numbers of letters are posted daily with superscriptions +which the sorters cannot decipher, and which the great majority of +people would not be able to read. Others, again, are received with +perhaps only the name of some small village, the writers thinking it a +work of supererogation to add some neighbouring town, or even a county. +Numberless, for instance, are the letters bearing such addresses +as "John Smith, gardener, Flowerdale," or "Throgmorton Hall, +Worcestershire." Circulars, by the thousand, are posted in London and +other large towns without hesitancy, and with the greatest confidence in +the "final perseverance" principle of the Post-Office people, with +addresses not more explicit than the foregoing. Many country gentlemen +would seem to cherish the idea that the names of their mansions should +be known equally far and near from their manorial acres, and somehow +they seem to inoculate their correspondents with the same absurd notion. +If, however, it be possible to reduce the hieroglyphics on some strange +letter to ordinary every-day English, or find, from diligent search in +his library of reference, information relative to imperfectly-addressed +letters (information which might have been given much more easily by the +senders), our readers may be sure that the cunning gentleman of the +Blind Office, justly known for his patience and sagacity, will do it, +unless, indeed, the letter be "stone blind," or hopelessly incomplete. +As a genuine example of stone-blind letters, take the following, the +first of a batch which has been known to pass through the blind-room of +the General Post-Office:-- + + +-----------------------------------+ + | | + | Uncle John | + | | + | Hopposite the Church | + | | + | London. Hingland | + | | + +-----------------------------------+ + +It would certainly have been a wonderful triumph of skill to have put +this letter in a fair way for delivery: for once the blind officer +would acknowledge himself beaten; and then the Dead Letter Officers +would endeavour to find "Uncle John's" _relative_, intimating to the +said relative that greater explicitness is needed if "Uncle John" must +be found. + +But they manage better with the next letter in the batch. + + +--------------------------+ + | | + | Coneyach lunentick | + | | + | a siliam | + | | + +--------------------------+ + +is part of the address of a letter which the sorter no doubt threw away +from him with some impatience. The blind officer, however, reads it +instantly, strikes his pen, perhaps, through the address, and writes on +the envelope, "Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum," and passes it out for +delivery. + + +-------------------------+ + | | + | | + | Obern yenen | + | | + | | + +-------------------------+ + +is seen in an instant to be meant for "Holborn Union." "Isle of Wight" +is, in like manner, written on a letter improperly addressed as +follows:-- + + +-------------------------------+ + | | + | Ann M---- | + | | + | Oileywhite | + | | + | Amshire | + | | + +-------------------------------+ + +The probability is that the last-mentioned letter will come back to the +Dead Letter-Office, on account of no town being given in the address; +still, the usual course is to send it out to the local district +designated, there being always the possibility that certain individuals +may be locally known. + +"_Ashby-de-la-Zouch_" is a town to spell which gives infinite trouble to +letter-writers; but the Post-Office official is especially lenient and +patient in cases of this kind. There are fifty different ways of +spelling the name, and few letters, except those of the better classes, +give it rightly spelt. "Hasbedellar-such" is the ordinary spelling among +the poor living at a distance. + + +---------------------------------------+ + | | + | Ash Bedles in such | + | | + | for John Horsel, grinder | + | | + | in the county of Lestysheer | + | | + +---------------------------------------+ + +is a copy of a veritable address meant for the above town. + +The blind letter officers of an earlier date succumbed before the +following letter:-- + + +-------------------------------------------+ + | | + | For Mister Willy wot brinds de Baber | + | | + | in Lang-Gaster ware te gal is | + | | + +-------------------------------------------+ + +but the dead letter officers were enabled from the contents to make out +that it was meant for the editor of a Lancaster paper, "where the gaol +is." The communication enclosed was an essay written by a foreigner +against public schools! + +The blind officers are supplied with all the principal London and +provincial directories, court guides, gazetteers, &c.; and by the help +of this, their library of reference, added to their own experience and +intelligence, they are generally able to put again into circulation +without the necessity of opening them, five out of six of all the +letters which are handed over to them. The addresses of some letters are +at once seen to be the result of mistake on the part of senders. Letters +addressed "Lombard Street, Manchester," "St. Paul's Churchyard, +Liverpool," both obviously intended for London, are sent out for trial +by the letter-carriers at what are believed to be their real +destinations. (See _Ninth Report_.) Letters, again, for persons of rank +and eminence, dignitaries of the Church, prominent officers of the army +or navy, whose correct addresses are known, or can be ascertained, are +immediately sent out for delivery to their right destination, however +erroneously directed, without question or examination of contents. The +following strange letters, meant for the eye of royalty, would not be +impeded in their progress in any way:-- + + +----------------------------+ + | | + | Keen Vic Tory at | + | | + | Winer Casel | + | | + +----------------------------+ + +and another-- + + +----------------------------+ + | | + | Miss | + | | + | Queene Victoria | + | | + | of England | + | | + +----------------------------+ + +would go to Windsor Castle without fail; while the following, posted in +London at the breaking-out of the Polish Insurrection, would find its +way to St. Petersburg as fast as packet could carry it:-- + + +----------------------------------+ + | | + | To the King of Rusheya | + | | + | Feoren, with speed. | + | | + +----------------------------------+ + +When the letter-carriers and the blind officers have expended all their +skill upon certain letters in vain, the next step is to send them to + + +THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE. + +in order that they may be returned to the writers, provided any clue can +be obtained from the contents as to their whereabouts. The branch +in which this work is accomplished is now a very considerable +establishment, employing at least a score more clerks, &c. than in the +days of the old postage. In 1763, just a hundred years ago, the records +show that two clerks only were engaged in opening "_dead and insolvent +letters_." Now, nearly fifty officers are employed in the same duties. +Nor are these duties by any means so only in name. Last year +considerably over two millions of letters were returned to their writers +through the Dead-Letter Office from failures in the attempts to +deliver them. "Three-quarters of the non-deliveries," says the +Postmaster-General, "were on account of the letters being insufficiently +or incorrectly addressed, nearly 11,000 letters having been posted +_without any address at all_." + +In every provincial post-office in England and Wales a dead or returned +letter-bag is now forwarded daily to London, containing all the letters +which, from any cause, cannot be delivered. Each letter bears on its +front, written prominently in red ink, the reason of its non-delivery. +Thus, if the addressee cannot be found, or should have left the town, +the words "Cannot be found," or "Gone--left no address," are written +respectively. On the arrival of these bags in London, inclosed in the +larger bags containing the general correspondence, they are at once +passed to the "returned-letter branch," as the Dead-Letter Office is +called, where no time is lost in opening them. Every letter received is +first examined by an experienced and responsible officer, to make sure +that it has been actually presented according to its address, and that +the reasons assigned on the cover of the letter are sufficient to +account for its non-delivery. In doubtful cases, before the letter is +opened, the directories and other books of reference, of which there is +a plentiful supply in this office, are consulted, and should it be found +or thought that there has been any oversight or neglect, the letter is +re-issued, with proper instructions, by the first post. About 300 +letters are thus re-issued daily, many of which ultimately reach the +persons for whom they are intended. + +When it has been fully ascertained that nothing further can be done to +effect the delivery of an imperfectly or improperly addressed letter, it +only remains to have it sent back to the writer. This is done, if +possible, without the letter being opened. By an arrangement of ten +years' standing, if the returned letter has the writer's name and +address embossed on the back of the envelope, impressed on the seal, or +written or printed anywhere outside, it will not be opened, but +forwarded back according to this address. We may point out here, +however, that this arrangement, excellent and satisfactory as it is, has +sometimes led to serious mistakes and confusion; so much so, in fact, +that the Postmaster-General, in his report for 1861, appealed to the +public on the subject. It would appear that the practice of using +another person's embossed envelope is on the increase. When such a +letter, according to the arrangement, is forwarded to the supposed +writer, it has frequently fallen into the wrong hands (the master and +merchant instead of the clerk or other servant), and grievous complaints +have been made on the subject. The remedy, of course, lies with +letter-writers themselves. If there are no outward marks to indicate the +sender, the letter is then opened, and, if a suitable address can be +found inside, the letter is inclosed in the well-known dead-letter +envelope and forwarded according to that address. If a letter should be +found to contain anything of value, such as bank-notes, drafts, +postage-stamps, the precaution is taken of having a special record taken +of it, and it is then sent back as a registered dead letter. Money to +the value of 12,000_l._ or 14,000_l._ is annually found in these +returned letters. Of this sum about 500_l._ per annum falls into the +public exchequer, on account of no address being found inside, and no +inquiry being made for the missing letters. A vast number of bank +post-bills and bills of exchange are likewise found, amounting in all, +and on the average, to something like 3,000,000_l._ a-year. These bills, +however, as well as money-order advices, always afford some clue to the +senders, even supposing no address should be given inside the letter, +and inquiries are set on foot at the bankers and others whose names may +be given in the paper transactions. Forty thousand letters reach the +English returned branch each year containing property of different +kinds. Many presents, such as rings, pins, brooches, never reach their +destination, and are never sent back to the sender, because they are +often unaccompanied with any letter. These articles, of course, become +the property of the Crown. + +Postmasters of Irish towns send their "dead and insolvent letters" to +Dublin, and the residuum of the local Scotch post-towns are sent to +Edinburgh. In both these capitals, this particular class of letters is +dealt with in exactly the same manner as in the London office. We are +assured that the letters themselves, and the articles found in the +Scotch and Irish dead letters, illustrate no little the characters, the +feeling, and habits of the two people. The Scotch have, comparatively +speaking, the fewest dead letters; and as the writers are generally +careful to give their addresses inside the letters, little trouble is +said to be experienced in returning them, if it is necessary. The Irish +dead letters are more numerous than either the English or the Scotch. +This mainly arises from the circumstance of the nomadic habits of a +considerable portion of the Irish people: owing also to the same +circumstance, it is impossible to return many of the letters to the +writers. The Scotch dead letters rarely contain coin or any very +valuable enclosures, while of articles of jewellery, such as usually +form presents or tokens of affection, we are told there is a "lamentable +deficiency." The Irish dead letters, on the contrary, "are full of +little _cadeaux_ and small sums of money," illustrating at the same time +both the careless and the affectionate nature of the people. + +Letters which can neither be delivered nor returned through the +Post-Office are, if found to be valuable and if posted in the United +Kingdom, appropriated to the public revenue after a certain time; if +received for delivery from a foreign State, they are sent back to the +chief office of that country for final disposition. Letters posted in +this country found to be of no value, are kept at the Post-Office for a +month and then destroyed; foreign letters under the same circumstances +are not destroyed for two months. + + +And now, unless we at once return from our digression, we shall +not be in time to see the great night-mail despatched from St. +Martin's-le-Grand. Whilst we have been occupied with a contemplation of +the few waifs and strays of our national correspondence, the great bulk +of that correspondence has been well and carefully disposed of: the +letters and newspapers which we saw two hours ago as a mass of +inextricable confusion, are now carefully stowed away in their +respective bags, and not a letter or newspaper can be found. The hall +clock is silently approaching the hour of eight, when the bags must all +be sealed and ready to leave the place. At five minutes before that +time, all is still bustle and activity; five minutes perhaps after that +hour the establishment is nearly deserted. "Everything is done on +military principles to minute time." "The drill and subdivisions of +duties are so perfect," adds a close observer, "that the alternations +are high pressure and sudden collapse." This is the more remarkable, +inasmuch as the Post-Office, is subject to great variations in the +amount of work to be done. Particular nights in the week, Mondays and +Tuesdays for example, are known as the "heaviest," and even such events +as elections, influence the labour to be performed within the same given +time. During the last election for Lambeth, 40,000 circulars were posted +in London in one day, and properly disposed of. On the 14th of February +last, 957,000 extra letters, or valentines, passed through the +Circulation Office in London. Compared with Valentine's Day 1863, there +was an increase of a quarter of a million letters! + +In place of the old mail-coaches waiting in the yard of the office until +the work is completed inside, we have now the well-known mail-vans. As +they are rapidly supplied with bags, they chase each other to the +various railway stations, from which, to all points of the compass, the +night-mails now depart. Half an hour afterwards, we find ourselves in +one of these trains watching operations not dissimilar to those we have +just left, but much more wonderful, considering how they are +accomplished. + + +THE TRAVELLING POST-OFFICE. + +The travelling post-office deserves special attention, not less on +account of the interesting nature of the work performed, than because it +serves many important ends in the system of which it forms a part. It is +to the railway post-offices that the Department is indebted for much of +the simplification of its accounts. At different points in a mail-coach +journey, long stoppages used to be made in order that the "bye" and +"forward" letters might get sorted; on the introduction of railways, it +was seen that the number of bags must either be enormously increased, +and other complications arise, or the railways could not to any extent +be rendered available for post-office purposes. Just at this juncture, +it was suggested that the work might be done during the journey, and +the obstacles were soon surmounted. Further, by means of the travelling +offices, the Post-Office is enabled to offer more time for the posting +of letters, and not only so, but to give the public the benefit of +earlier deliveries. + +The railway-mail service has now assumed quite gigantic proportions. +Twenty-six years ago, when railways were only partially used for +post-office purposes, a writer predicted that they would "soon become +the _ne plus ultra_ of rapidity," and that the Post-Office would have to +take to them more and more. "In a few years," said the writer, "railways +will have become so general, that scarcely a mail-coach will be left in +England; certainly, none will be wanted in London." Both predictions +have since been verified; for the last twenty years, railways have +gradually absorbed all the mail contracts,--year by year the estimates +for this service showing a corresponding increase.[155] The first +railway post-office journey was made on the Grand Junction Railway, +between Liverpool and Birmingham, on the 1st of July, 1837. When the +line was completed to London, in January, 1838, the travelling office +started from the metropolis. The following curious account of the "Grand +Northern Railway Post-Office," as it was called, is culled from the +_Penny Magazine_. "On the arrival of the four 'accelerators' at the +Euston Station with the mails, the railway servants immediately carry +the large sacks to a huge looking machine, with a tender attached to it, +both at the end of the train. This caravan is the flying Post-Office, +with a table for sorting letters, and holes round the walls for their +reception." The carriage was certainly either an ungainly structure, or +the above is a most ungainly report. "In ten minutes," continues the +narrator, "the omnibuses are emptied of their contents, and the train of +carriages is then _wound up_ to the station at Camden Town, where the +engine is attached, _and the Primrose Hill tunnel soon prevents us +hearing the thunder of their rapid progress_." The Londoner of 1864, in +these days of metropolitan railways can afford to smile at this last +sentence. That the change in the system of mail conveyance wrought +immediate and striking improvement at the Post-Office does not admit of +question. In a contemporary account, we find an interesting but +wonder-stricken writer stating that "by means of the extra railway +facilities, letters now pass along this line (London and Birmingham) in +a space of time so inconceivably quick, that some time must elapse +before our ideas become accustomed to such a rapid mode of intercourse." +We learn from different works published by Mr. Charles Knight, that when +the railways were extended farther northwards, the Railway Post-Office +was extended with them, and was formed into sections. Thus, when the +lines were continued north as far as Lancaster, there were two divisions +formed, one staff of clerks, &c. to the number of eight, working between +London and Birmingham, and ten between Birmingham and Lancaster.[156] +There were two mails each day in both directions. The distance between +London and Lancaster (241 miles) was accomplished in eleven hours and a +half. The weight of the railway post-office, tender, bags, and clerks, +is stated by Mr. Whishaw, in his work on railways, to have been at that +period about nine tons. At that time, the expense of the service was +regulated by the weight carried. At present, on the great trunk line of +the London and North Western Railway Company, no fewer than eight +mail-trains run daily up and down, each conveying railway post-office +carriages and post-office employés. Half of these trains are run +specially, the number of passengers being limited. The weight of mails +running over this ground must have increased fourfold at the least, +inasmuch as the number of officers have been augmented in even a greater +proportion. Surprising as was the speed at which the first railway +post-office travelled, and wonderful as it was thought at the time, one +of the mail-trains now runs nearly double the distance between London +and Lancaster during the time which used to be taken for that ground +alone. _The Limited night-mail_, travelling between the Euston Square +station in London, and Perth in Scotland, accomplishes the distance of +451 miles in eleven hours and a half, or about forty miles an hour +including stoppages! + +The railway post-office proper, is now extended over nearly every +considerable line of railway in the kingdom. It comprises a number of +divisions or sections, named generally from the locality through which +they extend, or the railway travelled over, as the Bangor and Leeds +division, the Caledonian Railway post-office. The four principal or +trunk mails, three of them being divided into two sections, are (1) the +North-Western Railway post-office, travelling between London and +Carlisle; (2) the Irish Mail, between London and Holyhead; (3) the Great +Western, between London and Exeter; and (4) the Midland, between Bristol +and Newcastle-on-Tyne. Most of these divisions have _day_- as well as +_night_-mails running over them daily. Four trains a-day, being two in +each direction, are therefore the usual proportion of mails on the chief +lines of railway. As London is the _heart_ of the postal system, so +these four principal mails may be termed its _main arteries_, while as +veins in the great system, there are a number of smaller divisions of +the railway post-office that have not been enumerated. Again, at other +parts or points not important or extensive enough for travelling +offices, railway trains are arranged to wait the arrival of the trunk +mails; and thus, to continue the figure, our letters--the life-blood of +a nation's commerce and sociality--are conveyed to the remotest corners +of the country. + +It may be imagined that a proper control of this vast machinery, +extending through almost every county in the kingdom, with its scattered +staff of officials, will be difficult; but the efficient working of the +whole is nevertheless as thoroughly and promptly maintained as in any +other department where personal supervision is more direct. Each +divisional part has distinct officers allotted to it, the number of +_clerks_ being regulated according to the number of mails running over +the division in the course of a day, and the number of _sorters_ +according to the amount of sorting duties to be performed. Each mail +travels under the charge of one clerk, while each division is locally +superintended by one senior clerk. The entire direction, however, of all +the travelling officers is vested in the Inspector-General of Mails, who +also presides over the Mail Office at St. Martin's-le-Grand. We may here +further state, that the _length_ of the divisions--the extent of one of +which forms a post-office journey or "trip"--varies slightly, averaging +about 170 miles; the average _time_ taken to perform the journeys being +between five and six hours. As a rule, the night-mails travel during the +night-time, or between eight P.M. and six A.M.; the day-mails generally +speaking throughout the day. + +But we must make ready for our journey, and enter more into detail. +While van after van is arriving with its heavy loads of mail-bags, we +have time to notice that the train standing at the great London terminus +is nearly all post-office. Two or three carriages are being filled as +full as possible with made-up bags, and two more, fitted up like +post-offices, are simply meant for operations similar to those we have +already seen at the General Post-Office, in connexion with the +unfinished work which has now to be accomplished during the journey. It +is with the remaining carriage only that we have to do. Seen from the +outside, the office itself may still answer to the description given of +it twenty-five years ago by our authority above adverted to, although +considerable improvements must have been made in its construction since +that time. Though the structure is built with a very evident serviceable +purpose, the large, heavily-painted, windowless vehicle, looks more as +if intended for the conveyance of Her Majesty's horses than Her +Majesty's mails; the roof, however, covered with glass, with other +contrivances for the purposes of ventilation, soon convinces us that it +is intended for some description of the _genus homo_. We go inside, and +find it built like an ordinary saloon carriage, about twenty-two feet +long, and as wide and spacious as the railway arrangements will allow. +It is night-time, the reader will remember, and the interior looks warm +and cheerful with its row of bright-burning moderator lamps, and, in +this respect, contrasts strongly and pleasantly, as far as we are +concerned, with the dimly-lighted station, through which the cold night +air is rushing. The reader who is following us in this description must +abstain from imagining anything like luxury in the internal fittings. +Everything here is requisite for accomplishing the work in hand, but +there is no provision for any kind of indulgence; and spacious as the +place seems at a first glance, there is not to be found, when we come to +look narrowly, a single foot of spare room. Along the whole length of +one side of the carriage, and encroaching materially upon its width, a +number of tiers of boxes--the "holes" of our ancient authority--are +arranged for the sorting processes; the smaller ones for the letters, +and the larger ones in the centre of the office--more like shelves, many +of them being movable--for the newspapers and all that vast variety of +articles forwarded according to the rules of book-post. Every available +inch of space on the other side of the office is covered with upright +pegs, in recesses sunk in the carriage-sides, upon which are hung the +bags--now made of canvas, with the names of towns conspicuously painted +upon them--to be used in the course of the journey. These recesses, as +well as the two ends of the office, are well padded over, to secure +additional safety to the officers in the event of any accident.[157] +Under the desks or counters, which run from one end of the carriage to +the other, bags are packed, to be given out as the train arrives at the +respective stations. + +In less time, however, than it would take to read the foregoing, the +mail has speeded miles away, and reached, by this time, the fox-covers +and game-preserves of those Hertfordshire landowners who, when the +railway was projected, expressed the wish that its concoctors "were at +rest in Paradise!" The train possibly "thundered" through Camden Town as +it used to do in olden times, but it would be but a momentary sensation, +not to speak of the inhabitants being now quite accustomed to it. The +post-office work commenced when the train left the station. The bags +were quickly seized by the proper sorter, cut, and their contents turned +out on the desk. Then he distributes what he finds in the bags according +to a pre-arranged order. The registered letters which have found their +way to the office he at once transfers to the clerk on duty whose +special province it is to deal with them; the bundles of ordinary +letters--in one of which packets is the identical letter we ourselves +posted--he hands over to his fellow-sorters, who, each standing opposite +to a distinct set of boxes, labelled with the names of different towns +on the route, at once sort them away. The newspapers he deals with +himself. The work thus started, the scene presently becomes one of +considerable animation and a pleasant-enough sort of excitement, till +every bundle of letters is cut open and disposed of in the boxes. There +is then a lull, but it is only temporary. It is true that the train will +not stop till the county of Warwickshire is reached; but the intervening +country is provided for nevertheless--arrangements having been made that +at all the towns we pass the exchange of letter-bags shall be effected +by means of machinery whilst the train is progressing at its usual +speed. The contrivance in question deserves minute description.[158] The +machinery is not worked in the post-office, but in an adjoining van. By +means, however, of a substantial iron gangway, the two carriages are +connected, so that we can pass easily from one to the other and see the +operation itself. As we do so we are evidently nearing some town, for +the sorter is at that moment engaged in peering out of the window into +the darkness in search of some familiar object, such as bridge, river, +or cluster of trees, by means of which he is enabled to tell his +whereabouts with almost mathematical precision. Whilst he is busy +finding his position we will take the time to explain, that the +machinery is arranged so as to secure, simultaneously in most cases, +both the receipt and the despatch of bags. For the purpose of receiving +bags, a large strong net is fixed to one side of the van, to be drawn +down at the proper moment; and close to the door, on each side of it, +securely fixed to the carriage, are hollow iron bars, inside each of +which, working by means of a rope and pulley, an iron arm is fixed, upon +which the bags to be delivered, securely strapped in a thick, leathern +pouch, are suspended. Where the exchange has to be effected at the +station we are nearing, the arrangements are just the counterparts of +this. A net is spread to catch each pouch from the extended arm of the +carriage, and pouches are hung from iron standards in the ground of +sufficient height for the net in the train. The operation itself is +just commencing. The door is pushed back into the groove in which it +works, and then the sorter, touching a spring that holds up the net, it +is loosened from its supports, and projects over the carriage-sides; the +iron arm, acting on its pulley-rope, is drawn round into the carriage, +where the pouch is rapidly fastened to it by means of a catch or +spring--but in such a manner that a touch from the net-apparatus at the +station will bring it off--and then let down, remaining by virtue of its +own weight at right angles to the door. A moment of waiting, and then +all the machinery acts its assigned part properly; the pouch disappears +from the arm (or arms, if the bags have been heavy enough for two to be +used), and at the same moment another descends into the post-office net, +and all is over and quiet as before. We mean, of course, comparative +quiet, as much as is possible amid the din and endless rattle of a train +speeding at the rate of forty miles an hour. + +We follow the sorter as he makes his way back into the post-office +carriage, carrying with him the treasures we have watched him pick up by +the wayside. These new arrivals disposed of in the orthodox way, and the +process repeated two or three times, there is suddenly a movement among +the officers as they busy themselves in collecting from the different +boxes all the letters that have been received from first to last for the +bags about to be despatched at the approaching town--the first junction +station. The letters in question are examined to test the correctness of +the sorting, then tied up in bundles in a sharp and decisive way, then +placed away carefully in the several bags, which are tied, sealed, and +ready for delivery just as the train is brought to a stand. Here they +are given out; fresh supplies are received from a number of large towns +in the immediate district, and the train is again on its way. The bags +received are at once opened; the same round of sorting, collecting, +examining, is gone through; the same process of despatching for the next +and all subsequent postal stages is repeated, just as we have described. +Little variation is noticed, except that at certain points a much +larger number of bags are thrown into the office--for instance, as the +train nears the more thickly populated parts of the midland counties, +then the "black country," as it is called, and subsequently the +manufacturing districts. At one of these points a considerable addition +was made to the staff of sorters, who fell at once to work in the vacant +spaces left for them. And it was not before they were required; for +presently the train arrives at one of the principal mail junctions in +the kingdom, where an immense number of bags wait our arrival. These +bags have been brought somewhat earlier on, by other mail trains, +arranged so as to effect a junction with us; these having in their turn +met with other trains running across the country in transverse +directions. Thus there are here, bags from towns near and towns remote, +containing letters for places from which we are, as yet, hundreds of +miles distant. The work, however, will be resumed with increased +activity, according to the number of letters which may be forthcoming, +only whatever number there may be, all must be finished in a given time. +So far, the reader may imagine the duty to be one of dull routine and +very monotonous; so as a rule we believe it is: there are circumstances +connected with the manner of travelling, however, which conspire to make +it at times somewhat varied and exceptional. One moment, and we are +clattering down a hill, and the sorting partakes, to some extent, of the +same tear-away speed; another time, we are panting up a line of steep +gradient, and the letters find their boxes very deliberately; now, the +rails are somewhat out of order, or the coupling of the carriages has +not been well attended to, or we are winding round a succession of sharp +curves, and can scarcely keep our feet as the carriage lurches first to +one side, then to the other; in all which cases, not only is our own +equilibrium a source of difficulty to us, but we see that things proceed +anything but smoothly among the letters, which refuse to go in at all, +or go in with a spirited evolution, fluttering outside, and then landing +at their destination upside down, or in some other way transgressing +official rules in such case made and provided. Then the work is +accompanied to the different kinds of music, well known to "express +travellers." Now the train is tearing away through a tunnel, or through +an interminably long cutting of thick-ribbed stone, and then under or +over a bridge. Nor is this all, nor the worst: these noises are very +frequently varied by what is anything but a lively tune on the engine +whistle, but which, supposing the signal lights to be against us, or +Cerberus asleep at his post, is too often a round of screeching and +screaming enough to waken the Seven Sleepers. + +Whatever be the general character of the work, we are bent on enjoyment +during this particular journey. The country through which the train is +now proceeding is but thinly supplied with towns, hence the number of +letters received is much smaller, and we may avail ourselves of the +opportunity which this break in the character of the duty gives us, to +examine more closely and from our own point of view, a few of the +letters which are waiting to be despatched. The sorters also, glad of a +little relaxation, have produced from their hiding places under the blue +cloth-covered counter, an oval kind of swing-seat attached to it, which +turns outside somewhat ingeniously upon a swivel, and seat themselves at +their work. + +Undoubtedly, the first thing which will strike an observer placed in +circumstances like ours, is, that the Post-Office is eminently a +democratic establishment, conducted on the most improved _fraternité et +égalité_ principles. The same sort of variety that marks society, here +marks its letters; envelopes of all shades and sizes; handwriting of all +imaginable kinds, written in all shades of ink, with every description +of pen; names the oddest, and names the most ordinary, and patronymics +to which no possible exception can be taken. Then to notice the _seals_. +Here is one envelope stamped with the escutcheoned signet of an earl; +another where the wax has yielded submissively to the initials of plain +John Brown; and yet another, plastered with cobbler's wax, with an +impression that makes no figure in _Burke_ or _Debrett_, but which, +indeed, bears many evidences of having been manufactured with hob-nails. +Then to think that Queen Victoria, and John Brown, and the cobbler +aforesaid, must each find the inevitable Queen's head, without which no +letter of high or low degree can pass unquestioned! Here they are--these +letters--mingling for a few hours at any rate in silent but common +fellowship, tossed about in company, belaboured with the self-same +knocks on the head, sent to their destination locked in loving embrace, +and sometimes, as in the case of the cobbler's, exceedingly difficult to +part. + +If we turn to consider the addresses, how amusing we find some in their +ambiguity; how blundering and stupid a few more! Some say too little, +others too much; some give the phonetic system with _malice prepense_, +others because it is nature's own rendering and they have never known +school! Sometimes (and the practice is growing) the envelope is covered +with long advertisements, for the benefit and information of the +Post-Office officials, we presume, in which case it is difficult to +arrive at the proper address of the letter at the first or even second +glance. Some give the address of the _sender_ in prominent printed +characters, and it is surely not a matter of wonder when the letter, as +not unfrequently, happens, finds its way back to the sender. In all +cases of this kind, time is of course lost to the Post-Office, and the +work of examination is necessarily deliberate, hesitating, and slow. At +one point, the quota of letters from the sister-isle is received, and it +is then perhaps that the sorter's patience is put to the severest test. +The addresses of the letters of the poorer Irish are generally so +involved--always being sent to the care of one or two individuals--that +they usually present the appearance of a little wilderness of words. As +a specimen of the kind of letter referred to, we give our readers a copy +of one which actually passed through the Post-Office some time ago, +assuring them that though the following is rather an _ultra_ specimen, +this kind of minute but indefinite address is by no means uncommon among +the class referred to:-- + + +----------------------------------------------+ + | | + | To my sister Bridget, or else to | + | | + | my brother Tim Burke, in care | + | | + | of the Praste, who lives in the parish | + | | + | of Balcumbury in Cork, or if not to | + | | + | _some dacent neighbour in Ireland_. | + | | + +----------------------------------------------+ + +The English poor oftener, as we have already seen, show their unbounded +confidence in the sagacity of the officers of the Post-Office by leaving +out some essential part of the address of a letter, but very seldom +writing too much. We once saw a letter addressed as follows:--"Mary +H----, a tall woman with two children," and giving the name of a large +town in the West of England. + +The Scotch people, as a rule, attain the golden mean, and exhibit the +greatest care in such matters. Nor can we wonder at this. The poorer +classes are certainly better educated, and whilst seldom profuse on +their letters, they are cautious enough not to leave anything of +consequence unwritten. The statistics of the Dead Letter Offices of the +three countries confirm, to some considerable extent, our rough +generalizations. + +After all, however, the cases of blunder are exceptional; and +as no really blind letters are found in the travelling offices, +because no letters are posted here, little difficulty is felt, +comparatively speaking, and nothing but patience and the Rosetta stone +of experience are needed for the performance of the duty. The great +majority of letters are like the great majority of people--ordinary, +unexceptionable, and mediocre. It could not well be otherwise. In the +railway post-office, however, much is learned from the habit of +association. The officers, of course, take some degree of interest in +the towns on his ride; for, almost domesticated on the rail, he becomes +a sort of denizen of those towns he is constantly passing, and sees, or +fancies he does, from the letters that arrive from them, a kind of +corroboration of all he has settled in his mind with regard to them. +Almost every town has its distinctive kind of letters. That town we just +passed is manufacturing, and the letters are almost entirely confined to +sober-looking advice-cards, circulars, prices current, and invoices, +generally very similar in kind and appearance, in good-sized envelopes, +with very plainly written or printed addresses. Now and then a lawyer's +letter, written in a painfully distinct hand, or a thick, fat, banker's +letter, groaning under the weight of bills and notes, escapes from +company such as we have described; but still the letters sustain the +town's real character. Now we are at an old country town, with +quiet-going people, living as their fathers did before them, and +inheriting not only their money and lands, but their most cherished +principles: their letters are just as we expected, little, quiet, +old-fashioned-looking things, remarkable for nothing so much as their +fewness. _Now_ we are among the coal-districts, and almost all the +letters have a smudged appearance, making you imagine that they must +have been written by the light of pit-candles, in some region of carbon +"two hundred fathoms down." _This_ bag comes from a sea-bathing place, +and so long as summer continues, will unmistakably remind you of +sea-shore, sea-sand, and sea-anemones. _These_ bags have previously had +to cross a broad sea ferry, and the letters tell of salt water as +certainly as if they were so many fishes. Another twenty miles, and we +come to an old cathedral town with its letters looking as orthodox as +any Convocation could wish; whilst that other town is clearly a resort +of fashion, if we may judge from the finely scented, perfumed, +elegant-looking billets that escape from its post-bag. + +And thus interested and observing, we are rapidly reaching our +destination. We are at the terminus at last. The office is emptied of +all its contents, and the bags, securely made up, are forwarded under +care of other officers in different trains, proceeding far and near. Nor +have we forgotten our own letter. In the vast mass of letters it holds a +well-secured place, being safely ensconced in one of these very bags; +and we will endeavour to be present when the bag is opened, that we may +verify our assertion. Out of the carriage and once on _terra firma_, we +feel a sensation of dreamy wonder that nothing has happened to us; that, +considering the noise and the whirl, and the excitement of the work we +have witnessed, our brain is not tied up in a knot somewhere in the +head, instead of only swimming. Dusty, tired, and sleepy, we hurry +through the streets for refreshment, if not repose, while the day is +just breaking. + +Of course, this Post-Office machinery, which we have attempted to +describe, is necessarily delicate and liable to derangements, inasmuch +as it has to depend to a great extent on the proper carrying out +throughout the country of an infinite number of railway arrangements. +Its successful working is doubtless primarily due to the special time +chosen for the conveyance of mails. The ordinary traffic disposed of, +the mail-trains take its place, and through the long night the best part +of the Post-Office work is accomplished. The good or bad management of +railway companies may assist or retard the efficiency of the Post-Office +to an almost incalculable extent. The railway post-office is like a +gigantic machine, one part interdependent on another, and all alike +dependent on the motive power of the different contracting parties. +Railway accidents are fruitful sources of discomfiture to the +Post-Office Department. The mail-trains have, within the last two or +three years, enjoyed an immunity from any very serious calamity of this +nature: yet even when this is not the case, it very seldom happens that +the Post-Office arrangements suffer, except on the particular journey +wherein the accident occurred. Fresh supplies of men and _matériel_ are +summoned with a speed that would, or ought to, surprise some other +commissariat departments, and the work proceeds the next day or night as +if the equilibrium had never been disturbed. + +As the question whether continual railway travelling is prejudicial to +health has frequently been discussed of late, it may not be out of place +to instance the case of the travelling _employés_ of the Post-Office, +which seems to show that persons in the enjoyment of good health are +benefited by railway travelling. The ratio of sickness among the +Post-Office clerks and sorters engaged upon railways is certainly not +greater, we are told, than among the same class of officers employed at +the London establishment. The fact seems to be that, were it not that +the former travel generally at night-time, are exposed to sudden changes +of weather, and are, on certain emergencies, forced to travel oftener +and further than the authorized limits, the ratio would be considerably +less than it is. Dr. Waller Lewis, the medical officer of the +Post-Office, supplies us, in a recent report, with a number of cases +that have come under his immediate notice, where incessant, and even +excessive railway travelling, does not seem to have been at all +detrimental to the health of those so engaged. "One of our best +officers," says Dr. Lewis, "states that he has no doubt that, during the +period of twenty years that he has been engaged in railway duties, he +travelled, on an average, a hundred miles a-day, Sundays included. All +this time he not only enjoyed excellent health, but he was stouter and +stronger than he has been since leaving that duty." Dr. Lewis further +tells us, that it is part of his duty to examine candidates for +appointment in this department of the public service, and again to +examine them after they have undergone a probation varying from six to +eighteen months. "In reply to my question, addressed to such officers +after a probationary term, of how they found the travelling agree with +them, some stated that they had never been so well in their lives. A +considerable number of them replied that they had not had an hour's +illness since they commenced railway duty." Of course, these +last-mentioned persons were _candidates_ for appointments in a lucrative +branch of the Post-Office, and their statements must be received subject +to this understanding and with due caution: still, it seems certain that +the general testimony borne in the travelling offices is not +unfavourable to the healthiness of the employment. + +With regard to the question of injury to the eyesight from railway +travelling, Dr. Lewis may again be supposed to speak authoritatively +when he considers "it very injurious to allow the eyes to rest on +external objects near at hand, such as telegraph-poles or wires, near +trees or hedges, &c. whilst the train is in motion;" but, speaking of +the same subject, he "does not find that in the travelling post-office +much mischief is occasioned to the sight."[159] When we remember that +the Post-Office work is generally performed by means of a strong +artificial light, and much tedious deciphering of the addresses of +letters necessarily occurs, as we have seen, during travelling, it must +be admitted that the eyesight is here put to the strongest possible +test. + + +We have now traced our letter, posted in the metropolis, through the +travelling post-office into the establishment of a provincial town. We +shall follow it presently, and not leave it till it is properly +delivered at the rural village to which we saw it addressed; but we must +take the opportunities as they occur to describe with minuteness each +particular, whether bearing directly or collaterally on our subject, as +well as to add now and then a timely exhortation to the reader. Thus, +you are indignant, perhaps, that a certain letter you ought to have had +is not to hand at the proper moment, but has suffered some delay in +transit. However, just think how many letters you do get, which come to +your desk as true as the needle to the pole. Just listen to the old +gentleman yonder as he tells how long the same business letter from a +certain old-established house used to be in arriving, and what was paid +for it when it did arrive. Above all, pray think of the travelling caged +officials--those wingless birds of the Post-Office--and of what they go +through o' nights in order that you may have your letter or your +newspaper--posted yesterday in some quiet corner of the country 500 or +600 miles away--with your buttered toast to breakfast in town! + + +A PROVINCIAL POST-OFFICE. + +Thirty years ago the arrangements in the north country town of the +district to which our imaginary letter was addressed, and which we are +engaged to visit, were of the most primitive kind. It has always been an +important town. Even anterior to the first establishment of the British +Post-Office, it was the first town in the county in which it stands. +Subsequently, it was on the direct line of one of the principal +mail-routes in the kingdom, and now, in these days of railroads, it is a +kind of junction for the district. Postally speaking, it was, and is, a +place of importance, including within its boundaries nearly a hundred +villages, all deriving their letter-sustenance from it. At the period of +time in question the post-office was situated in the most central part +of the town, the outside of the building partaking of the ugly and +old-fashioned style of the shops of that day. It was then considered +quite sufficient for the business of the place that there should be a +small room of about twelve feet square devoted to postal purposes; that +there should be a long counter, upon which the letters might be stamped +and charged, and a small set of letter-boxes for the sorting processes. +Added, however, to the proper business of the neighbourhood, there used +to be a kind of work done here which was confined to a few towns only on +the line of mails, selected for this supplementary business on account +of their central positions. The mail-coaches, as they passed and +repassed northwards and southwards, stopped here for half an hour until +certain necessary sorting operations could be performed with a portion +of the letters. In this way our particular town held the style and +designation, and with it the _prestige_, of a "Forwarding Office." + +The public required little attention, and got but little. Being prior to +the time of postage-stamps, and we may almost add of money-orders, not +to speak of savings' bank business, few applications were ever made to +the officers--consisting of a postmaster, his wife, and another +clerk--for anything but stray scraps of information relative to the +despatch of mails. The communication with the public was anything but +close, being conducted in this town--and, in fact, in all others of our +acquaintance--through a trap-door in a wooden pane in the office-window. +Near to it was a huge slit, being a passage to a basket, into which +letters and newspapers were promiscuously thrown. The principal labour +incident to the old style of postage was in regulating the amount to be +paid on the different letters. Those posted in the town for the town +itself were delivered for a penny; twopence was charged into the country +places surrounding; letters for the metropolis cost a shilling; and +Scotch letters eightpence-halfpenny at least, the odd halfpenny being +the charge as a toll for the letter crossing the Tweed. The delivery of +the letters in the town took place at any time during the day, according +to the arrival of the mails, and it was effected by a single +letter-carrier.[160] Private boxes for the principal merchants in the +town, and private bags for the country gentlemen, were almost +indispensable to those who cared for the proper despatch and security of +their correspondence. Many gentlemen who did not arrange to have private +bags (at a great yearly expense) were compelled to make frequent +journeys to the town to ascertain if any letters had arrived for them. +Some letters for places within a few miles of the town would be known to +be at the office for days and weeks unguessed at, till perhaps some one +would hear, through one of many channels, that a letter was lying at the +post-office for persons of their acquaintance, and inform them of the +fact. Letter-delivering in the rural districts was then a private +concern, and, in consequence, those letters destined for one particular +road were laid aside till a sufficient number were accumulated to make +it worth while to convey them at a charge of a penny the letter.[161] +Owing to the wretched system then in force, many country places round a +post-office were, to all intents and purposes, more remote than most +foreign countries are at this hour. One letter-carrier sufficing for the +wants of the town, we need scarcely say that the number of letters +received was exceedingly small. Not more than a hundred letters were +posted or delivered, on an average, each day, though the town was the +seat of many brisk manufactories, and was, besides, in the heart of the +colliery districts. _Now_, a single firm in the same town will cause a +greater amount of daily postal business. + +Our purpose will not allow of our describing all the attendant +circumstances of the state of things existing at this early period, or +more fully than we have already done the postal arrangements of the +past. But there were the "_expresses_," which ought not to be forgotten. +Designed to supply some sudden emergency, they were of great use where +quick intelligence was urgently required. For this purpose they might be +had from the post-office people at any hour, and generally they were +procured through the night. A special mounted messenger might be +despatched, under this arrangement, with a single letter, marked "Haste! +post haste!" carrying with him a way-bill, to account for the time it +had taken him to perform the journey. The charge for expresses was at +the rate of a shilling a mile, the speed at which they travelled +averaging ten miles an hour. + +Nor can we stay, much as we should like to do so, to picture the old +mail-coach--its glittering appearance, its pawing horses; or to describe +the royal-liveried guard, "grand and awful-looking in all the composure +of a felt superiority." In the old times it used to pull up at the +half-wooden inn near the post-office, and, during the half-hour allowed +for postal business, was the observed of all observers. The half-hour +was one of unusual bustle both at the office and at the inn; but, as +soon as the time was up, the passengers would take their seats (the +guard occupying a solitary one at the end of the coach), the mails were +thrown as a small addition to the load of bags at the top, and off the +cavalcade would start, to the tune, perhaps, of the "Blue Bells of +Scotland," if the mail was going northwards, or, if southwards, may be +"The Green Hills of Tyrol," from the clear silver key-bugle of his +Majesty's mail-guard. + +Now, this is changed, and almost all postal arrangements prior to the +days of Sir Rowland Hill are as so many things of the past. And into +what a grand establishment the Post-Office itself is metamorphosed! The +part now dedicated to the public might be part of a first-class banking +establishment. Entering by a spacious doorway, with a lofty vestibule, +there is accommodation for a score of people to stand in the ante-room +and leisurely transact their business. Then there runs along the whole +length of the first or public room a substantial mahogany counter, +behind which the clerks stand to answer inquiries and attend to the +ordinary daily business. There is a desk for the money-order clerk, and +drawers in which postage-stamps are kept. Close by we see one or two +ranges of boxes; one for callers' letters--"_the poste restante_"--and +another for those who prefer to engage private boxes to having their +letters delivered by letter-carriers. + +Outside things are changed also. The wooden pane--nay, the window +itself--has disappeared to make way for a more modern structure; and +instead of the single letterbox, there are several. Late letters are now +provided for in a separate box, and so also are newspapers. The +principal post-office work is accomplished in an interior apartment, +from which the public are studiously excluded.[162] A large table stands +in the centre of the room; a smaller one, well padded with leather, +stands near, and is used specially for letter-stamping; a number of +letter-benches--for boxes are not used much now--are arranged against +three of the four walls and in the middle of the room, on which the +letters and newspapers are sorted. Empty canvas bags of different sizes, +with tin labels attached (if the name of the town is not _painted_ on +them), books, printed papers of different kinds, bundles of string, &c. +make up the furniture of the apartment, and complete the appearance of +it immediately prior to the receipt of the early-morning mail. + +Long before the ordinary workmen in our towns are summoned from their +repose, the Post-Office work in the provinces may be said to commence by +the mail-cart clattering through the now silent streets to the railway +station, there to await the arrival of the first and principal mail, and +its first daily instalment of bags. At the given time, and only (even in +the depth of winter) very occasionally late, the train emerges out of +the darkness, its two shining lamps in front, into the silent and almost +empty station. The process described in our account of the travelling +post-office is here gone through; a rapid exchange of bags is made, and +each interest goes its separate and hurried way. During the interval, +and just before the mail-cart deposits its contents at the door of the +post-office, the clerks and letter-carriers will have been roused from +their beds, and somewhat sulkily, perhaps, have found their places in +time. They look sleepy and dull, but this is excusable; the hour is a +drowsy one, and half the world is dozing. The well-known sound of the +mail-cart breaks the spell, however, and soon they are all thoroughly +alive, nay, even interested, in the duties in which they are engaged. +The bags just arrived are immediately seized by one of their number, who +hurriedly cuts their throats, and then empties the contents upon the +huge table in a great heap: somewhere in the heap our letter is +safely deposited. The bundles of letters are quickly taken to the +letter-stampers, through whose hands they must first pass. With a speed +and accuracy which rivals machinery,[163] an agile letter-stamper will +soon impress a copy of the dated stamp of the office upon the back of a +hundred letters, and this done, they are passed over to the clerks and +sorters to arrange them in the different boxes, the process being +repeated till the whole are disposed of. The newspapers and book-packets +are taken from the table without being stamped, and sorted by the +letter-carriers. As soon as the first or preliminary sorting is over, +each sorter will proceed upon distinctive duties; some will prepare the +letters for the letter-carriers, by sorting each man's letters together, +according to their different number. When this is done, the letters are +handed to the carriers, who retire to a separate room, looking with its +desks very like a small schoolroom, and there arrange them in order to +deliver them from house to house. Other officers will prepare the +letters for the sub-officers and rural messengers. When all the letters, +&c. for a certain village are gathered up, they are counted and tied up +in bundles; if any charged letters are sent, the amount is debited +against the sub-postmaster of the place on a letter-bill--something like +an invoice--which invariably accompanies every Post-Office letter-bag +despatched from one post-town to another, or from one head office to a +sub-office. If any registered letters are of the number to be sent, the +name of each addressee is carefully written on the letter-bill. Private +and locked bags for the country gentry still survive, and may be +obtained for an annual fee of two guineas. They are attended to with +some care, and are carried to their destination with the other made-up +bags. When the mails are ready, they are sent from the Post-Office in +various ways. Those for one or two country roads are sent to a local +railway station, and taken in charge by the railway guard, who drops the +bags at the different points on the line according to their address; +others are carried by mail gigs under one or more private contractors, +while the rest are taken by country-walking postmen, who make certain +journeys during the day, returning in the evening with the letters and +bags they have gathered during their travels. Of course the rural +messengers take out loose letters as well; _e. g._ those for detached +dwellings on their line of road. Our letter falls into the hands of one +of those hard-working and deserving men.[164] The village, or rather +hamlet, to which it is addressed is too small for a post-office, but a +rural postman passes through it on his daily journeyings about ten +o'clock each morning, delivering with scrupulous fidelity everything +committed to his care. Thus, posted where we saw it last night, it +passes from hand to hand all through the long night, and eventually +reaches that hand for which it was intended 300 odd miles away, nearly +as surely as if we had travelled to deliver it ourselves. + +But to return. While some of the officers are attending in this way to +the wants of the country, others are serving the interests of the town. +A hundred or two gentlemen, bankers and manufacturers, pay an extra +guinea yearly in order to secure certain special privileges at the +Post-Office. These privileges consist, in brief, of having their letters +arranged in private boxes, each labelled with their names, and delivered +from these boxes by one of the clerks as soon as the office is opened, +or the moment the letter-carriers emerge from it to enter upon any of +the daily deliveries of letters. Of course these letters must be +prepared previously. + +The office is open to the public for money-orders and for the +transaction of the business of the new savings' banks at nine o'clock, +and continues open on every day, except Saturdays, until six, on which +day two hours longer are allowed. It is not necessary to describe the +arrangements in these branches, seeing that the public are familiar from +daily experience with them. It will suffice to say that separate clerks +are usually delegated to these duties in our large towns, and are +answerable to the postmaster for the correctness of their accounts. The +same clerk attends to the sale of postage-stamps, keeping an account +with the postmaster of the quantity _sold_, and also of the stamps +_bought_ from the public under the recent arrangement. In larger towns +where one clerk is specially retained for these duties, he is known as +the "window clerk," as it devolves upon him to answer all applications +and inquiries. + +Throughout the day, the quietness of the post-office proper is broken in +upon and varied by the arrival of some small mail. On one of these +occasions, namely, on the receipt of the day-mail from London, the +operations of the morning are gone over again on a small scale, and for +a short time the office presents an appearance of some of its early +bustle. Letters are delivered in the town, but those arriving for the +country places remain at the office till the next morning. + +The work of the Post-Office commences before "grey dawn," and long +before the usual period of ordinary business in our towns; it lasts also +far into the "dewy eve." When merchants lock up their desks and offices, +and complete their last round of duties by posting their letters, the +serious work of the Post-Office, for the second time during the day, may +be said to begin. The hour before the despatch of the principal mail in +any provincial Post-Office, thanks in great part to the dilatoriness of +the public in general, is an hour of busy activity, seldom witnessed in +any other branch of industry whatever. Almost at the same moment the +country mail-gigs from their different rides, mail-carts from the local +railway stations, the rural postmen from their walks, and the +receiving-house keepers from the outskirts of the town, approach the +post-office door, and speedily cause the office to groan as it were +under the weight of letters and bags. All the force of the office is now +engaged, and engaged with a will, if the bags are to be ready for the +London night-mail due from Scotland at the railway station in sixty +minutes. Again, the same round of bag-opening, checking, stamping (only +now the stamps must be obliterated, as the letters are about to be +despatched for the first time), and sorting, which we described in the +morning, is again repeated. The sorted letters are examined, tied up in +bundles of sixty or seventy each, and then despatched in the bags +received at the beginning of the day from the London mail. The bags are +tied, sealed, and hurried away to the station. Now, at length, the +postmaster and his staff breathe freely. For a full hour they have been +engaged as busily, yet as silently, as so many bees in a hive; but now +that the work is finished, the thoughts of rogues, lovers, bankers, +lawyers, clergymen, and shopkeepers; the loves and griefs, the weal and +woes, of the town and country lie side by side, and for a few hours at +least will enjoy the most complete and secret companionship. Every +working day, and to some extent on Sunday, the same routine of work is +prescribed and accomplished with little variation. + + +In all this consists the _prose_ of Post-Office life; but who shall +describe its _poetry_? Scarcely a day passes in any of our provincial +post-offices without some incident occurring calculated to surprise, +amuse, or sadden. Very probably within a few minutes one person will +have come to make a complaint that a certain letter or letters ought to +have arrived, and must have been kept back; another will make an equally +unreasonable request, or propound some strange inquiry which the poor +post-office clerk is supposed to be omniscient enough to answer. Most +often, however, the cases of inquiry disclose sorrowful facts, and all +the consolation which can be offered--supposing that the clerk has any +of "the milk of human kindness" in him, a quality of mind or heart, much +too rare, we confess, in the Post-Office service--will likely be the +consolation of hope. The official sees now and then brief snatches of +romance; perhaps the beginning or the end, though seldom the transaction +throughout. Amusing circumstances are often brought out by requests +tendered at the Post-Office, that letters which have been posted may be +returned to the writers. A formal, but most essential rule, makes +letters once posted the property of the Postmaster-General until they +are delivered as addressed, and must not be given up to the _writers_ on +any pretence whatever. One or two requests of this kind related to us we +are not likely soon to forget. On one occasion, a gentlemanly-looking +commercial traveller called at an office and expressed a fear that he +had inclosed two letters in wrong envelopes, the addresses of which he +furnished. It appeared from the account which he reluctantly gave, after +a refusal to grant his request, that his position and prospects depended +upon his getting his letters, and correcting the mistakes, inasmuch as +they revealed plans which he had adopted to serve two mercantile houses +in the same line of business, whose interests clashed at every point. He +failed to get his letters, but we hope he has retrieved himself, and is +now serving one master faithfully. + +Another case occurred in which a fast young gentleman confessed to +carrying on a confidential correspondence with two young ladies at the +same time, and that he had, or feared he had, crossed two letters which +he had written at the same sitting. We heartily hope a full exposure +followed. Writing of this, we are reminded of a case where a country +postmaster had a letter put into his hand through the office window, +together with the following message delivered with great emphasis: +"Here's a letter; she wants it to go along as fast as it can, cause +there's a feller wants to have her here, and she's courted by another +feller that's not here, and she wants to know whether he is going to +have her or not." If the letter was as explicit as the verbal message +to which the postmaster involuntarily lent his ear, no doubt the writer +would not be long in suspense. These cases, however, are uninteresting +compared to one related by another postmaster. A tradesman's daughter +who had been for some time engaged to a prosperous young draper in a +neighbouring town, heard from one whom she and her parents considered a +creditable authority, that he was on the verge of bankruptcy. "Not a day +was to be lost in breaking the bond by which she and her small fortune +were linked to penury." A letter, strong and conclusive in its language, +was at once written and posted, when the same informant called upon the +young lady's friends to contradict and explain his previous statement, +which had arisen out of some misunderstanding. "They rushed at once to +the Post-Office, and no words can describe the scene; the reiterated +appeals, the tears, the wringing of hands, the united entreaties of +father, mother, and daughter for the restoration of the fatal letter." +But the rule admitted of no exception, and the young lady had to repent +at leisure of her inordinate haste. + +We have only space to close with a graphic extract from the +reminiscences of a post-office official, in which the everyday life of a +country post-office is admirably described: "For the poor we were often +persuaded both to read and write their letters; and the Irish +especially, with whom penmanship was a rare accomplishment, seldom +failed to succeed in their eloquent petitions; though no one can realize +the difficulty of writing from a Paddy's dictation, where 'the pratees, +and the pig, and the praiste, God bless him!' become involved in one +long, perplexed sentence, without any period from beginning to end of +the letter. One such epistle, the main topic of which was an extravagant +lamentation over the death of a wife, rose to the pathetic climax, 'and +now I'm obleeged to wash meself, and bake meself!'" The officers of the +Dead-Letter Office could a tale unfold, one would think, only an +essential rule of the service binds them to honourable secresy. The +Post-Office official often, however, and in spite of himself, learns +more than he cares to know. "For," as the writer continues, "a great +deal can be known from the outside of a letter, where there is no +disposition to pry into the enclosure. Who would not be almost satisfied +with knowing all the correspondence coming to or leaving the hands of +the object of his interest? From our long training among the letters of +our district, we knew the handwriting of most persons so intimately, +that no attempt at disguise, however cunningly executed, could succeed +with us. We noticed the ominous lawyers' letters addressed to tradesmen +whose circumstances were growing embarrassed; and we saw the carefully +ill-written direction to the street in Liverpool and London, where some +poor fugitive debtor was in hiding. The evangelical curate, who wrote in +a disguised hand and under an assumed name to the fascinating public +singer, did not deceive us; the young man who posted a circular +love-letter to three or four girls the same night, never escaped our +notice; the wary maiden, prudently keeping two strings to her bow, +unconsciously depended upon our good faith. The public never know how +much they owe to official secresy and official honour, and how rarely +this confidence is betrayed. Petty tricks and artifices, small +dishonesties, histories of tyranny and suffering, exaggerations and +disappointments were thrust upon our notice. As if we were the official +confidants of the neighbourhood, we were acquainted with the leading +events in the lives of most of the inhabitants." + +Once more, "Never, surely, has any one a better chance of seeing himself +as others see him than a country postmaster. Letters of complaint very +securely enveloped and sealed passed through our hands, addressed to the +Postmaster-General, and then came back to us for our own perusal and +explanation. One of our neighbours informed the Postmaster-General, in +confidence, that we were 'ignorant and stupid.' A clergyman wrote a +pathetic remonstrance, stating that he was so often disappointed of his +_Morning Star and Dial_, that he had come to the conclusion that we +disapproved of that paper for the clergy,[165] and, from scruples of +conscience, or political motives, prevented it--one of 400 passing daily +through our office--from reaching his hands whenever there was anything +we considered objectionable in it." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON THE MAIL-PACKET SERVICE. + + +Our home and foreign mail-packet service is a costly and gigantic branch +of the Post-Office establishment. During the greater part of the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the service was under the control +of the Post-Office authorities. We have already given many details of +the packet management of the period. It was then transferred to the +Board of Admiralty, in whose hands it continued up to so late as 1860. +Even at the commencement of the present century, the service seems to +have been carried on regardless of economy, and not without traces of +that wastefulness--we might almost say corruption--in the management, +which, a hundred years previously, would not have been regarded as very +remarkable. The arrangements eighty years ago, were none of the best. At +this period some of the vessels employed to convey mails were hired, +without any tender, while some few were the property of the Crown. In +1788, the state of the marine mail service attracted parliamentary +attention; for in that year we find a Committee of Fees and Gratuities +reporting that the cost of the mail service had reached an unreasonable +sum. They stated that for eighteen years that cost had been over a +million sterling, or an average charge of 60,000_l._ annually. With +regard to the manner in which the work was done, they found that many +officers of the Post-Office, "even down to the chamber keepers," were +owners of some of the packets employed to the exclusion of all else. +This Committee, with a view to remedying these and other abuses, +recommended that the Government should change the system entirely--the +Government share of the packets to be sold, and the entire service +offered by public and competitive tender. That this advice was not acted +upon, is clear from the fact that four years afterwards, the Finance +Committee urged upon the Government the necessity of complying with the +recommendations of 1788. In 1810, the cost of the service had increased +to 105,000_l._; in 1814 to 160,000_l._[166] + +Steam vessels had been in successful operation for three years before +they were introduced into the mail service. In 1818, the _Rob Roy_ +steam-packet plied regularly between Greenock and Belfast; in 1821, the +year in which Crown packets were established, the Post-Office, or rather +the Admiralty on behalf of the Post-Office, asked the help of steam. The +Holyhead station for Ireland, and the Dover station for the Continent, +were chosen for the experiment of mail-steamers. They were successful; +and soon we find six steam-packets stationed at each place. Then we have +the gradual introduction of mail contracts. The first of these +commercial contracts was made in 1833, with the Mona Island Steam +Company, to run steamers twice a week between Liverpool and Douglas, in +the Isle of Man. Immediately after, the General Steam Navigation Company +contracted to carry the Rotterdam and Hamburgh mails for 17,000_l._ +a-year. In 1853 these mails were transferred to the Ostend route. The +year 1839 was quite an epoch in the history of the packet service; Mr. +Samuel Cunard of Halifax, Nova Scotia, having in that year contracted +with the British Government for a fortnightly mail across the Atlantic, +for the sum of 60,000_l._ a-year. The Cunard line of steamers is now +universally known, and is unrivalled. + +Little more than a hundred years ago, 50,000_l._ sufficed to pay for +the entire mail service of the period; about half that sum being the +extent of the charges properly appertaining to the Post-Office. Then, +only a few continental mails and an occasional packet to the colonies of +North America and the West Indies, were all that had to be sustained; +even those were kept up at a considerable loss.[167] At that time the +aboriginal inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand were in undisputed +possession of these enormous colonies; the Dutch were then the only +targets for the arrows of the Caffres in South Africa; Warren Hastings +and Lord Clive were children at Daylesford and Market Drayton, and +little dreamt of their subsequent career in the East; while the tide of +emigration which has since carried Anglo-Saxon blood and Anglo-Saxon +energy into every corner of the globe had not then, to any extent, set +in. That a hundred years of unequalled internal progress has developed +our great empire and called into life fresh and important agencies, what +reflecting mind can doubt? For many recent years the packet service of +the country, traversing every known sea to keep up a connexion with +those whom the exigencies of life and commerce have dispersed so widely, +has cost the nation something like a million sterling per annum! + +In accordance with the provisions of an Act passed in the session of +1859-1860, the general control of the British packet service was +transferred (on the 1st of April, 1860) to the Post-Office authorities, +from whom it ought never to have been taken. It was considered that the +Postmaster-General, under the Treasury, was the best judge of the +requirements of the service, and could best set about reducing the +enormous expenditure arising from contracts, which the Lords of the +Admiralty, generally from political motives, had entered into. That this +judgment was the correct one, three years have amply sufficed to prove. +Contracts have been thrown open to public competition; and although many +of the companies which had previously done certain services re-secured +them, it was found that they had to engage to do the work at a much +lower figure--in one or two cases, in fact, for half the amount they had +been wont to receive. All the packet contracts, as they fall vacant, are +advertised fully by the Post-Office authorities, and in sufficient time. +Printed forms are issued, and intending contractors are required to fill +them up, every arrangement being made to secure the efficiency of the +work. Nearly all the contracts are now made terminable on twelve months' +notice being given by the Postmaster-General. + +Another change which the Post-Office authorities have made is a radical +but a necessary one, and bids fair to make the mail-packet service, at +no distant date, self-supporting, so far as the mother-country is +concerned. Under the new principle already applied to India and +Australia, the British colonies are required to pay _half the cost_ of +their respective services, the English Government paying the remainder. +The result in some instances has been an increase in postage rates, but +we hope this will not long be considered necessary. + +According to the Postmaster-General's _Ninth Report_--from which much of +the information concerning the present state of the mail service is +taken--we find that the total number of steam-ships employed in the +mail-packet service, exclusive of tenders, &c., is no less than +ninety-six, with an aggregate of 140,000 tons, and of 36,000 +horse-power. The largest and most powerful mail-packet in the service is +the Cunard paddle-wheel steam-ship _Scotia_, of 3,871 tons burden, and +1,000 horse-power. It belongs to the contractors for the North American +service, Messrs. Cunard, Burns, and Maciver. The smallest packet, +according to the same authority, was stated to be the _Vivid_, of 300 +tons, and 128 horse-power, the property of Mr. Churchward. It is more +than probable, however, that this packet is not now in the service, as +Mr. Churchward's contracts have subsequently been given to the Belgian +Government. + +The mail-packet contracts are divided into those of the Home and those +of the Foreign services. The most important home service is that for +carrying the Irish mails, entered into by the City of Dublin +Steam-packet Company. They are required to keep four powerful +steam-vessels to ply twice a-day between Holyhead and Kingstown, for a +yearly payment of 85,900_l._ This contract lasts until 1865. The least +important contract in the home service, if we may judge by the terms +imposed, is that for the daily conveyance of mails between Greenock and +Belfast, entered into by Mr. Burns of Glasgow. Mr. Burns undertakes to +perform this service in all weathers, _free of expense_, and to pay an +annual sum of 100_l._ as penalty for general improper performance of the +duty! + +The home contracts dwindle into insignificance before those of the +foreign service. The foreign packets travel over the immense distance of +3,000,000 of statute miles each year. As the cost of the whole service +is nearly a million pounds annually, the average charge per mile is +6_s._ 4_d._ The average speed of the foreign packets is ten miles an +hour. The principal contracts are those for the Indian and Chinese +mails, entered into by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam-navigation +Company, and for which the sum of 253,000_l._ is paid yearly. In this +service, packets sail four times a month from Southampton, and other +mails are met at Marseilles at the like intervals. A fleet of steamers, +of not less than 1,100 tons, are engaged for a system of relays +established in the Mediterranean, and also between Suez and Bombay, Suez +and Calcutta, and Bombay and China. The Australian mails are carried out +to Ceylon in the Indian packets, when, on arrival at that point, another +fleet of steamers, engaged from the same company on a supplementary +contract of 134,672_l._ a-year, carry them between Point de Galle and +Sydney. An additional line of packets to the Antipodes, _viâ_ Panama, +will be run in January, 1865. The West Indian are the worst paying of +all the foreign mails, costing twice as much as they yield.[168] The +Royal Mail Steam-packet Company is paid the enormous sum of 270,000_l._ +a-year for their conveyance. The North American mails are carried by +Messrs. Cunard & Co. for the sum of 176,340_l._ a-year. Eight +steam-vessels are employed by this firm, leaving Liverpool once a-week, +and travelling also between New York and Nassau once a-month. Sir Samuel +Cunard himself contracts for the Canadian mails, receiving the yearly +sum of 14,700_l._ These supplementary packets sail from Halifax, on the +arrival of the Cunard steamers from Europe, to Bermuda and St. Thomas, +and also to Newfoundland. The Canadian contract costs less than any +other on the foreign service. + +The most distant point to which English mails are conveyed by the +British packet service is Auckland, New Zealand, about 15,000 statute +miles from Southampton. This service is rendered by the Intercolonial +Royal Mail-packet Company, with a fleet of four strong steamers, for +22,000_l._ annually. Of course, this company only performs the journeys +between Sydney in New South Wales and Auckland in New Zealand. The +nearest point from England is Calais, twenty-six miles from Dover. + +Notwithstanding the extraordinary length of some of the journeys of the +different mail packets, the Postmaster-General informs us that, except +in case of accident, the packets, even when late, arrive within a few +hours of their time, sometimes within a few minutes. As examples of +remarkable punctuality, which is now the rule, and not the exception, he +gives several instances, from which we select the following:--"The mails +for the West Indies and Central America, despatched from Southampton on +the 17th of September, were delivered at the Danish island of St. +Thomas, distant more than 4,000 miles, at the precise moment at which +they were due. On the same voyage, the mails for Jamaica and Demerara, +conveyed in each case by a separate branch-packet, were delivered within +a few minutes of the time at which they were due; the mails for parts of +Central America and for the Pacific were delivered at Colon, on the +eastern coast of the Isthmus of Panama, distant 5,400 miles, thirty +minutes after time, the packet having been detained at sea that precise +period by H.M.S. _Orlando_; while the mails for Chili, after having been +conveyed with others across the Isthmus of Panama, were delivered at +Valparaiso, distant nearly 9,000 miles from Southampton, two hours +before the appointed time." + +The mail packets employ a force, including officers, of more than 8,000 +men. In addition to these, there is a staff of thirty-three naval +officers--all officers of the royal navy, though maintained by the +Post-Office--employed upon such packets as those for the Cape and the +west coast of Africa, and charged with the care and correct delivery of +the mails. They are further required to do all they can to guard +against delay on the voyage, and to report on nautical questions +affecting in any way the proper efficiency of the service. Other +officers, besides, are fixed at different foreign stations to direct the +transfers of mails from packet to packet, or from packets to other modes +of conveyance. Then, again, in growing numbers, another class of +officers travel in charge of mails, such as the Indian and Australian, +and on all the North American packets, who, with a number of sorters, +are employed in sorting the mails _during the voyage_, in order to save +time and labour in the despatch and receipt of mails at London and +Liverpool respectively. There are now twenty-eight of this new class of +working mail officers, who, of course, are substituted for the old class +of naval agents. On the less important mail packets no naval officer is +specially appointed, but the mails are taken in charge by the commander. + +In past years few casualties, comparatively, have occurred in this +service. The loss of the mail packet _Violet_, on her journey between +Ostend and Dover, in 1856, will be remembered by many. One incident in +that melancholy shipwreck deserves mention here, affording a gleam of +rich sunshine amid a page of dry though not unimportant matter. Mr. +Mortleman, the mail officer in charge of the bags, on seeing that there +was no chance for the packet, must have gone down into the hold and have +removed all the cases containing the mail bags from that part of the +vessel; and further, placed them so that when the ship and all in it +went down, they might float--a proceeding which ultimately led to the +recovery of all the bags, except one, containing a case of despatches. +On another occasion, the mail master of a Canadian packet sacrificed his +life, when he might have escaped, by going below to secure the mails +intrusted to him. Other cases of a similar devotion to duty have, on +several occasions of exposure to imminent danger, distinguished the +conduct of these public officers, proving that some of them regard the +onerous duties of their position in a somewhat higher light than we +find obtains in the ordinary business of life. + +During the last year, however, an "unprecedentedly large number of +shipwrecks"[169] are on record, no less than five valuable packets +having been totally lost. In the early part of the year, the _Karnak_, +belonging to Messrs. Cunard and Co., was wrecked in entering Nassau +harbour. Shortly after, the _Lima_ struck on a reef off Lagarto Island, +in the South Pacific Ocean, and went down. The only loss of life +occurred in the case of the _Cleopatra_, the third packet which was +lost. This last-named vessel, belonging to the African Steam-ship +Company, the contractors for the Cape service, was wrecked on Shebar +reef, near Sierra Leone, when an officer and four Kroomen were washed +from a raft and drowned in endeavouring to reach the shore. Towards the +close of 1862, the _Avon_, belonging to the contractors for the West +Indian service, was wrecked at her moorings in the harbour of Colon, New +Granada; and, lastly, the _Colombo_ (conveying the Australian mails from +Sydney) shared the same fate on Minicoy Island, 400 miles from Ceylon. +The greatest loss of correspondence was caused by the failure of the +last-mentioned packet, though, from the care of the Post-Office +authorities, and the prompt arrangements of the contractors, the loss +was not nearly so great as it might otherwise have been if the proper +appliances had not been ready to hand. The mails were rescued from their +ocean bed and brought to London, where every effort that skill could +devise was made to restore them to their original condition. They were +carefully dried, in order that the addresses of the letters and +newspapers might be deciphered. When dried it was requisite that they +should be handled most carefully to prevent them crumbling to pieces--so +much so, in fact, that many were unfit to travel out of London without +being tied up carefully, gummed, and placed in new envelopes, and +re-addressed, providing that the old address could by any means be read +or obtained. Notwithstanding all the care and attention bestowed, a +great number of letters remained, in the words of the Post-Office +people, "in a hopeless state of pulp." An Australian _carte de visite_, +which arrived with the rescued mails from the _Colombo_, and now before +us, may have been a gem of art from one of the antipodean "temples of +the sun," but we have not now the means of judging, as a yellow bit of +paper, with an indistinct outline upon it, is all that remains. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[166] At this period the packets were worked at a considerable loss; +though this large item was occasioned by the war, yet the sea-postage +never amounted to half the cost of the maintenance of the mail-packets. + +[167] In the American Colonies, Benjamin Franklin was the last and by +far the best colonial Postmaster-General. He had forty years experience +of postal work, having been appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in +1737. Mr. Pliny Miles, in his history of the Post-Office in America, +_New York Bankers' Magazine_, vol. vii. p. 360, has furnished many +interesting particulars of this period. It appears that Franklin +notified his appointment in his own newspaper as follows: "Notice is +hereby given, that the Post-Office at Philadelphia is now kept at B. +Franklin's in Market Street, and that Henry Pratt is appointed +riding-postmaster for all stages between Philadelphia and Newport, +Virginia, who sets out _about the beginning_ (!) of each month, and +returns in twenty-four days, by whom gentlemen, merchants, and others +may have their letters carefully conveyed." What follows is also +interesting. It would seem that Franklin was somewhat unceremoniously +dismissed from his post, upon which he wrote, by way of protest, that up +to the date of his appointment "the American Post-Office never had paid +anything to Britain. We (himself and assistant) were to have 600_l._ +a-year between us, _if we could make that sum out of the profits of the +office_. To do this, a variety of improvements were necessary; some of +these were, inevitably, at the beginning expensive; so that in the first +four years the office became above 900_l._ in debt to us. But it soon +after began to repay us; and before I was displaced by a freak of the +Minister's we had brought it to yield three times as much clear revenue +to the Crown as the whole Post-Office of Ireland. Since that imprudent +transaction," adds Franklin, with a bit of pardonable irony, "they have +received from it--not one farthing!" + +[168] The amount of sea-postage collected has never reached within late +years to more than _half_ the entire cost of the mail-packet service. In +1860, this cost was 863,000_l._ and the postage collected amounted to +409,000_l._ + +[169] Postmaster-General's _Ninth Report_, p. 84. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ON POSTAGE-STAMPS. + + +The history of postage-stamps is somewhat remarkable. First used, as +many of our readers will remember, in May 1840, the postage stamp has +only just passed out of its years of minority, and yet at this present +moment there are more than fifteen hundred different varieties of its +species in existence, and the number is increasing every month. The +question as to who invented the postage-stamp would not be easily +settled; it appears to be the result of innumerable improvements +suggested by many different individuals. We will not enter far into the +controversy, and would only urge that the discussion as to its origin +has once more served to exemplify the truth of the saying of the wise +man, "The thing which hath been, it is that which shall be, and there is +no new thing under the sun." Post-paid envelopes were in use in France +as early as the reign of Louis XIV.[170] Pelisson states that they +originated, in 1653, with a M. de Velayer, who established, under royal +authority, a private penny post in Paris, placing boxes at the corners +of the streets for the reception of letters, which should be wrapped up +in certain envelopes. Shopkeepers in the immediate neighbourhood sold +the envelopes, some of which are still extant.[171] + +In England, stamps to prepay letters were most probably suggested by the +newspaper duty-stamp, then, and for some time previously, in use. Mr. +Charles Whiting seems to have thrown out this suggestion to the +Post-Office authorities in 1830.[172] Afterwards, Mr. Charles Knight +proposed a stamped cover for the circulation of newspapers. Dr. Gray, of +the British Museum, claims the credit of having suggested that letters +should be prepaid with them, as early as 1834.[173] No steps, however, +were taken in regard to any recommendations on the subject till the +proposals for post reform; and, consequently, the credit of the +improvement has fallen, to a considerable extent, to Sir Rowland Hill. +The use of postage-stamps was scarcely part of his original scheme, +though it followed almost as a matter of course: and, indeed, this +public benefactor, crowned with so many well-won laurels, may easily +afford to dispense with the adornment of this single one. + +Mr. Hill's famous pamphlet on _Post Reform_ went through three editions +rapidly. In the first edition, which was published privately, we find no +mention of the use of stamps--though prepayment of letters was always a +principal feature in his proposals--_money payments_ over the counter of +the receiving-office being all that was suggested under this head. +Immediately after the publication of the first edition, the members of +the Royal Commission on the Post-Office, which had been sitting at +intervals since 1833, called the author before them. In connexion with +the subject of the prepayment of letters, the officers of the Stamp +Office--Mr. Dickenson, the paper-maker, and several others--were also +examined, and the subject was thoroughly discussed.[174] Almost, as it +would seem, as a consequence of the proceedings before Committee, Mr. +Hill, in the second edition of his pamphlet, recommended definitely the +use of some kind of stamps or stamped envelopes as a means of +prepayment. When the Committee of the House of Commons met in 1837-8 to +investigate the merits of Mr. Hill's penny-postage scheme, they were, +of course, required to express an opinion as to the desirability or +otherwise of prepayment by means of stamps. A favourable opinion was +given on the subject, so that when the Government brought in and carried +the Penny-Postage Act, a clause for their use formed a component part of +it. + +Though it was agreed on all hands that stamps, or stamped paper of some +sort, should come into use with the advent of cheap postage, it was by +no means easy to hit upon a definite plan, or, when a number of plans +were submitted, to decide upon the particular one to be adopted. Stamped +_paper_, representing different charges, was first suggested. Folded in +a particular way, a simple revenue-stamp would then be exposed to view, +and frank the letter. Another suggestion was that a stamped _wafer_, as +it was called, should be used, and, placed on the back of a letter, seal +and frank it at the same time. The idea of stamped _envelopes_, however, +was at first by far the most popular, and it was decided that they +should be the prepaying medium. Plans and suggestions for the carrying +out of this arrangement being required at once, the Lords of the +Treasury issued a somewhat pompous proclamation, dated August 23d, 1839, +inviting "all artists, men of science, and the public in general," to +offer proposals "as to the manner in which the stamp may best be brought +into use." So important was the subject considered, that Lord +Palmerston, the then Foreign Secretary, was directed to apprise foreign +Governments of the matter, and invite suggestions from any part of the +civilized world. Three months were allowed for plans, and two prizes of +200_l._ and 100_l._ were offered for proposals on the subject, "which my +Lords may think most deserving of attention." The palm was carried off +by the late Mr. Mulready, Royal Academician, who designed the envelopes +now known by his name. These envelopes, which allegorically celebrated +the triumphs of the post in a host of emblematical figures, were of two +colours; the one for a penny being printed in black, and the other, for +the twopenny postage, in blue ink. They gave little satisfaction, +however, and at the end of six months were withdrawn from use. There was +little room left on the envelope for the address. They left to the +common and vulgar gaze, as Miss Martineau, we think, has pointed out, +emotions of the mind which had always best be kept in the background, +and instead "of spreading a taste for high art," which had been hoped, +they brought it into considerable ridicule.[175] + +Before the postage-envelope was finally withdrawn from use, the Treasury +issued another prospectus, offering a reward of 500_l._ for the best +design and plan for a simple postage-_label_. It was made a condition +that it should be simple, handy, and easily placed on paper, and of a +design which would make forgery difficult, if not impossible. About +1,000 designs were sent in, but not one was chosen. Eventually, the ugly +black stamp, said to be the joint production of some of the officers of +the Stamp- and Post-Offices, was decided upon and brought into use. Two +years afterwards, this black stamp was changed to brown, principally +with a view to make the obliterating process more perfect, and the +better to detect the dishonesty of using old stamps. For the same +reasons, the colour was again changed in a short time to red, and so it +has remained to the present time. The twopenny stamp has been from the +first blue. Up to this date, at different intervals, six other stamps +have been issued, as the necessities of the inland or foreign postage +required them. The tenpenny stamp, of an octagonal shape and brown +colour, is now scarcely ever used, if it be not even withdrawn from +circulation. The list comprises, besides the stamps we have mentioned, +the sixpenny (lilac), the shilling (green), the fourpenny (vermilion), +the threepenny (rose), and the ninepenny (yellow). The last two were +issued only two or three years ago. The whole of the English labels bear +the impression of the head of Queen Victoria, and are all of the same +size and shape (if we except the tenpenny stamp), the sole difference +being in the colour, and in the various borderings round the Queen's +portraits. Besides these distinguishing marks, however, they all tell +the tale of their own value.[176] + +Soon after the introduction of postage-stamps, stamped envelopes were +again proposed. This time the proposition was a very simple one, only +consisting of the usual kind of stamp embossed on the right-hand corner +of a common envelope; the shape to be oval, round, or octagonal, +according to the value of the envelope. For the envelopes themselves, a +peculiar kind of paper was prepared by Mr. Dickenson, and was considered +on all hands to be the best possible preventive of forgery. This paper, +which was manufactured with lines of thread or silk stretched through +its substance, has been used ever since. Russia, in adopting the stamped +envelope, guards against forgery by means of a large water-mark of a +spread eagle running over the envelope. + +The English Stamp-Office affords every facility in the matter of stamped +paper and envelopes, and private individuals may indulge their tastes to +almost any extent. The officers of Inland Revenue, Somerset House, will +place an embossed stamp on any paper or envelope taken to them, equal to +the value of any of those above mentioned, or to a combination of any of +them, under the following regulations:-- + + 1st. When the stamps required do not amount to 10_l._ worth one + shilling is charged, in addition to the postage stamps, for each + distinct size of paper. + + 2d. When the stamps amount to 10_l._ worth no fee is charged if one + size of paper only be sent. + + 3d. When the stamps amount to 20_l._ worth, no fee is charged, and + two sizes of paper are allowed; 30_l._ three sizes are allowed; + 40_l._ four sizes. + + 4th. No _folded_ paper can be stamped; and therefore paper, whether + intended for envelopes or letters, must be sent unfolded and without + being creased. + + 5th. Every distinct size and form of envelope or paper must be + marked so as to indicate the plan on which the stamp is to be + impressed, in order that, when the envelope or letter is folded and + made up, the stamp may appear in the proper position according to + the rules of the Post-Office. + + 6th. No coloured paper can be received for stamping, nor any paper + which is too thin to bear the impression of the dies. + + 7th. Envelopes provided by the office, with the proper stamps + thereon, will be substituted for any which may be spoiled in the + operation of stamping. + +A recent concession made by the Board of Inland Revenue may be regarded +as one of the latest novelties in the advertising world. Under the +arrangement in question, the Stamp-Office permits embossed rings with +the name of a particular firm, _e. g._ "Allsop & Co., Burton-on-Trent," +"De la Rue & Co.," to be placed round the stamp as a border to it. + +In 1844, after the _exposé_ of the letter-opening practices at the +General Post-Office, Mr. Leech gave in _Punch_ his "Anti-Graham +Envelopes," and his satirical postage envelope, afterwards engraved by +Mr. W. J. Linton, and widely circulated, represents Sir James Graham +sitting as "Britannia." About the same time there might have been seen +in the windows of booksellers of the less respectable class, a kind of +padlock envelope, exhibiting the motto, "Not to be Grahamed." + +For eight long years, the English people may be said to have enjoyed a +complete monopoly in postage-stamps. Towards the close of 1848, they +were introduced into France, and subsequently into every civilized +nation in the world. Last year they even penetrated into the Ottoman +Empire, and strange as it appears, when viewed in the light of +Mohammedan usage, the Sultan has been prevailed upon to allow his +portrait to appear on the new issues of Turkish stamps. + +In pursuance of a recommendation of a select committee of the House of +Commons which sat in 1852, a perforating machine was purchased from Mr. +Henry Archer, the inventor, for the sum of four thousand pounds.[177] +The same committee could not decide, they said, on the "conflicting +evidence" whether copper-plate engraving or surface printing would best +secure the stamps against forgery, but they considered that the accurate +perforation of the sheets would be a valuable preventive against +forgery, "inasmuch as it would be exceedingly difficult to counterfeit +sheets, and sheets badly done would at once excite suspicion when +offered for sale." The invention of the perforating machine is said to +have been attended with considerable labour, as, undoubtedly, it was by +skill and ingenuity. To the Post-Office and the public the patent was +sufficiently cheap. For a number of years the stamps had to be separated +from each other by knives or scissors; now one stamp may be torn from +the other with ease and safety. The process of puncturing the narrow +spaces round each stamp--an undertaking not so easy as it seems--is the +last the sheet of stamps undergoes before it is ready for sale. + +With regard to the other processes, little is known out of the +Stamp-Office, beyond what may be gathered from a close inspection of the +postage-stamps themselves. For obvious reasons, it has never been +thought desirable to publish any account of the manufacture of stamps. +We may simply say that all English postage-labels are manufactured at +Somerset House, and the entire establishment, which is distinct from the +other branches of the Inland Revenue Department, is managed at the +annual expense of thirty thousand pounds.[178] Of this sum, nineteen +thousand pounds is the estimated cost for the present year, 1863-1864, +of paper for labels and envelopes, and for printing, gumming, and +folding. About five thousands pounds will be necessary to pay the +salaries of the various officers, including five hundred pounds to the +supervisor, and one hundred pounds to the superintendent of the +perforating process. Mr. Edwin Hill, a brother of Sir Rowland Hill, is +at the head of the department. A large number of boys are employed at +the machines, under the superintendence of three or four intelligent +superintendents. The paper used for the stamps is of a peculiar make, +each sheet having a water-mark of two hundred and forty crowns; the +blocks used are of first-rate quality, and only subjected to a certain +number of impressions. The blocks are inked with rollers as in +letter-press printing. Of course, the stamps are printed in sheets, +though each one is struck with the same die or punch. After the +printing, and before the sheets are perforated, they are covered on the +back with a gelatine matter to render the label adhesive. + +Great precaution is taken in the printing of the stamps to provide +against forgery. All the lines and marks, as well as the initial +letters in the corner, are arranged so as to make the whole affair +inimitable. The best preservative, however, in our opinion, against a +spurious article, is the arrangement under which stamps are sold. Only +obtainable in any large quantity from the Stamp or Post-Offices, any +attempt on the part of the forger to put a base article into circulation +is encumbered with difficulties. Stamps, while they do duty for coin, +are used almost exclusively for small transactions, and generally among +people well known to each other. Other precautions are nevertheless very +necessary; and besides the initial letters on each stamp--different in +every one of the two hundred and forty in the sheet--which are +regarded as so many checks on the forger, this pest to society +would have to engrave his own die, and cast his own blocks, and find a +drilling-machine, perhaps the most difficult undertaking of all. The +paper, besides, would be a considerable obstacle, and not less so the +ink, for that used in this manufacture differs from ordinary printer's +ink, not merely in colour, but in being soluble in water. + +When postage-stamps were first introduced in England, it was little +thought that they would become a medium of exchange, and far less that +they would excite such a _furore_ among stamp collectors. The same stamp +may do duty in a number of various ways before it serves its normal +purpose. It may have proceeded through the post a dozen times imbedded +within the folds of a letter, before it becomes affixed to one, and gets +its career ended by an ugly knock on the face--for its countenance once +disfigured, it has run its course. Besides their being so handy in +paying a trifling debt or going on a merciful errand, the advertising +columns of any newspaper will shew the reader many of the thousand and +one ways in which he may turn his spare postage-stamps to account. You +may suddenly fall upon a promise of an easy competence for the +insignificant acknowledgment of half-a-crown's worth of this article. +Friends to humanity assure you a prompt remittance of thirteen Queen's +heads will secure you perfect exemption from all the ills that flesh is +heir to. For the same quantity another who does the prophetic strain, +will tell you which horse will win the Derby, "as surely as if you stood +at the winning-post on the very day." "Stable Boy," promises all +subscribers of twelve stamps that if they "do not win on this event, he +will never put his name in print again." Of course all this is quackery, +or worse; still the reader need not be told how in innumerable _bonâ +fide_ cases the system of postage-stamp remittances is exceedingly handy +for both buyer and vendor, and how trade--retail at any rate--is +fostered by it. As a social arrangement, for the poorer classes +especially, we could not well over-estimate its usefulness. Again we see +a good result of the penny-post scheme. Since 1840, not only has the use +of postage-stamps in this way never been discouraged (as it was always +thought that fewer coin letters would be sent in consequence), but the +Post-Office authorities have recently made provision for taking them +from the public, when not soiled or not presented in single stamps. This +arrangement is already in force at the principal post-offices, and will +ultimately extend to all. In America, as will be familiar to most +readers, postage-stamps have formed the principal currency of small +value almost since the breaking out of the present fratricidal war. More +recently, the United States Government has issued the stamps without +gum, as it was found inconvenient to pass them frequently from hand to +hand, after they had undergone the gelatinizing process. Under an Act, +"Postage Currency, July 17th, 1862," the Federal authorities have issued +stamps printed on larger sized paper, with directions for their use +under the peculiar circumstances. + +The obliteration of postage-labels in their passage through the post, +requires a passing notice. Different countries obliterate their stamps +variously and with different objects. In France they obliterate with a +hand-stamp having acute prominences in it, which, when thrown on the +stamp, not only disfigures, but perforates it with numerous dots placed +closely together. In Holland, the word "_Franco_" is imprinted in large +letters. Some countries, _e. g._ Italy, Austria, and Prussia, mark on +the label itself, the name of the despatching town, together with the +date of despatch. In England, the purpose of the defacement marks is +_primarily_ to prevent the stamp being used again. It also serves to +show--inasmuch as the obliterating stamp of every British Post-Office is +consecutively numbered--where the letter was posted, in the event of the +other dated stamp being imperfectly impressed. For this purpose the +British Postal Guide gives a list of the post-towns and the official +number of each. The mark of St. Martin's-le-Grand is a changeable figure +in a circle, according to the time of day during which the letter has +been posted and struck; for the London district offices, we have the +initials of the district, and the number of the office given in an oval. +The figures in England are surrounded by lines forming a circle; in +Scotland by three lines at the top and three at the bottom of them; in +Ireland the lines surround the figures of the particular office in a +diamond shape. + +It only remains to refer for a moment to the _timbromanie_, or stamp +mania. The scenes in Birchin Lane in 1862, where crowds nightly +congregated, to the exceeding annoyance and wonderment of policeman +X--where ladies and gentlemen of all ages and all ranks, from +Cabinet-ministers to crossing-sweepers, were busy, with album or +portfolio in hand, buying, selling, or exchanging, are now known to have +been the beginnings of what may almost be termed a new trade. +Postage-stamp exchanges are now common enough; one held in Lombard +Street on Saturday afternoons is largely attended. Looking the other day +in the advertisement pages of a monthly magazine, we counted no fewer +than sixty different dealers in postage-stamps there advertising their +wares. Twelve months ago, there was no regular mart in London at which +foreign stamps might be bought; now there are a dozen regular dealers in +the metropolis, who are doing a profitable trade. About a year ago, we +witnessed the establishment of a monthly organ for the trade in the +_Stamp-collector's Magazine_; at this present moment there are no less +than _ten_ such publications in existence in the United Kingdom. England +is not the only country interested in stamp-collecting. As might be +expected, the custom originated in France, and has prevailed there for a +number of years. In the gardens of the Tuileries, and also to some +extent in those of the Luxembourg, crowds still gather, principally on +Sunday afternoons, and may be seen sitting under the trees, sometimes in +a state of great excitement, as they busily sell or exchange any of +their surplus stock for some of which they may have been in search. The +gathering of a complete set of postage-stamps, and a proper arrangement +of them, is at least a harmless and innocent amusement. On this point, +however, we prefer, in conclusion, to let Dr. Gray, of the British +Museum, speak,[179] and our readers to judge for themselves. "The use +and charm of collecting any kind of object is to educate the mind and +the eye to careful observation, accurate comparison, and just reasoning +on the differences and likenesses which they present, and to interest +the collector in the design or art shown in their creation or +manufacture, and the history of the country which produces or uses the +objects collected. The postage-stamps afford good objects for all these +branches of study, as they are sufficiently different to present broad +outlines for their classification; and yet some of the variations are so +slight, that they require minute examination and comparison to prevent +them from being overlooked. The fact of obtaining stamps from so many +countries, suggests to ask what were the circumstances that induced the +adoption, the history of the countries which issue them, and the +understanding why some countries (like France) have considered it +necessary, in so few years, to make so many changes in the form or +design of the stamp used; while other countries, like Holland, have +never made the slightest change. + +"The changes referred to all mark some historical event of +importance--such as the accession of a new king, a change in the form of +government, or the absorption of some smaller state into some larger +one; a change in the currency, or some other revolution. Hence, a +collection of postage-stamps may be considered, like a collection of +coins, an epitome of the history of Europe and America for the last +quarter of a century; and at the same time, as they exhibit much +variation in design and in execution as a collection of works of art on +a small scale, showing the style of art of the countries that issue +them, while the size of the collection, and the number in which they are +arranged and kept, will show the industry, taste, and neatness of the +collector." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[170] Fournier. + +[171] Vide _Quarterly Review_ for October, 1839. + +[172] Report of Select Committee on Postage, vol. iv. p. 391. + +[173] _Hand Catalogue of Postage-Stamps_, p. 6. + +[174] Dr. J. E. Gray. + +[175] The Mulready envelopes are regarded as great curiosities by +stamp-collectors, and as their value rose to about fifteen shillings, a +spurious imitation found its way into the market, usually to be had at +half a crown. In 1862, stamp-dealers were shocked by the Vandalism of +the Government, who caused, it is said, many thousands of these +envelopes to be destroyed at Somerset House. + +[176] Our colonies issue their own stamps, with different designs. Some +of them are emblematical; the Swan River Territory using the design of a +"Swan," and the Cape of Good Hope choosing that of "Hope" reclining; but +they are gradually adopting the English plan of a simple profile of the +sovereign. The portrait of our Queen appears on two hundred and forty +varieties of stamps. Nearly all those used in the colonies, and even +some for foreign governments, are designed, engraved, printed, and +embossed in London, and many of them are much prettier than the products +of our own Stamp-Office. The principal houses for the manufacture of +colonial stamps, are Messrs. De la Rue & Co. and Perkins, Bacon, & Co. +of Fleet Street. See also Dr. Gray's Handbook, p. 8. + +[177] "An Abstract of Grants for Miscellaneous Services." Sums voted in +supply from 1835 to 1863 inclusive, moved for by Sir H. Willoughby. In +the same return we find 7,000_l._ were paid for "Foudrinier's +paper-machinery"--we presume for the manufacture of Mulready's +envelopes. + +[178] For further information of the staff of officers, and the expenses +of the Stamp-Office, see Appendix (G). + +[179] _Hand Catalogue of Postage-Stamps_, Introduction, p. 5. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +POST-OFFICE SAVINGS' BANKS. + + +The idea of Savings' Banks for the industrial classes was first started +at the commencement of the present century. They are said to owe their +origin to the Rev. Joseph Smith, of Wendover, who in 1799, circulated +proposals among his poorer parishioners to receive any of their spare +sums during the summer, and return the amounts at the Christmas +following. To the original sum, Mr. Smith proposed to add one-third of +the whole amount, as a reward for the forethought of the depositor. This +rate of interest, ruinous to the projector, proves that the transactions +must have been of small extent, and charity, a large element in the +work. The first savings' bank really answering to the name was +established at Tottenham, Middlesex, in 1804, by some benevolent people +in the place, and called the Charitable Bank. Five per cent. interest +was allowed to depositors, though for many years this rate was a great +drain on the benevolence of the founders. In 1817, these banks had +increased in England and Wales to the number of seventy-four. During +that year Acts of Parliament were passed offering every encouragement to +such institutions, and making arrangements to take all moneys deposited, +and place them in the public funds. From 1804 to 1861, the savings' +banks of the United Kingdom increased to 638. + +A reference to the various deficiencies of the old banks for +savings, and the steps which led to the formation of those now under +consideration, will not be out of place here. We have said that, in the +early part of this century, successive governments offered every +inducement and facility to the savings' bank scheme. Such encouragement +was indispensable to their success. When first started, Government +granted interest to the trustees at the rate of 4½_l._ per cent. This +rate, reduced to 4_l._ as the banks became more established, now stands +at 3_l._ 5_s._ per cent. Of this sum depositors receive 3_l._ per cent.; +the difference paying the expenses of management. The encouragement +which the Legislature has given to the savings' banks of the country +since their commencement, has entailed a loss of about four and a half +millions sterling on the public exchequer. From 1817 to 1841, a loss of +nearly two millions sterling had been incurred by reason of the rate of +interest which was allowed by Government, being greater than that +yielded by the securities in which the deposits had been invested. + +Savings' banks have suffered most severely from frauds in the +management, and the feeling of insecurity which these frauds have +engendered from time to time has gone far to mar their usefulness. +Government is only responsible to the trustees for the amounts actually +placed in its hands. The law, previous to 1844, gave the depositor a +remedy against the trustees in case of wilful neglect or default. In +1844, the Legislature thought right to make a most important change in +the law, by which trustees of savings' banks were released from all +liability, except _where it was voluntarily assumed_. It remains a most +significant fact, that all the great frauds with this class of banks +have occurred since that date. We have, indeed, to thank only the +influential gentlemen, who, as a rule, take upon themselves the +management of savings' banks, that such cases have been so rare as they +have.[180] The known frauds in savings' banks are calculated to have +swallowed up a quarter of a million of hard-earned money. The fraud in +the Cuffe Street bank, in Dublin, amounted to 56,000_l._; the Tralee +bank stopped payment in 1848 with liabilities to depositors to the +extent of 36,768_l._, and only 1,660_l._ of available assets; in the +same year, the Killarney savings' bank stopped with liabilities of +36,000_l._, and assets of only half that amount. About the same time, +the Rochdale bank frauds became known, and losses to the extent of +40,000_l._ were the result. + +There can be no doubt that the state of the law is still most anomalous, +and that the great majority of the people of this country are under the +impression that there is Government security for each deposit in every +savings' bank. Year by year, changes have been proposed in the +Legislature for giving more security to depositors, but the body of +managers have hitherto been successful in their opposition. Whilst +legislation is thus deferred, the risks to the provident poor still +continue. In the report of a Government Commission appointed during one +of these annual discussions "on the savings of the middle and working +classes," several well-known authorities in such matters, such as Mr. J. +Stuart Mill, and Mr. Bellenden Kerr, expressed decided opinions of the +insecurity of savings'-bank deposits. Mr. J. Malcom Ludlow spoke to the +feeling of the working-classes themselves: "I should say the _great_ +reason why the working-classes turn away from savings' banks, is the +feeling of insecurity so largely prevailing amongst them." + +Mr. J. S. Mill, when asked for any suggestion on the subject, said: "I +think it would be very useful to provide some scheme to make the nation +responsible for all amounts deposited. Certainly the general opinion +among the depositors is, that the nation is responsible; they are not +aware that they have only the responsibility of the trustees to rely +upon." + +Some change, or some new system, had long been regarded as absolutely +necessary. In 1861, the number of savings' banks on the old plan was +638; yet out of this number there were no less than fourteen counties in +the United Kingdom without a bank at all. Even in England, when the test +was applied to _towns_, all, for instance, of a size containing upwards +of 10,000 inhabitants, it was found that there were at least twenty-four +without savings'-bank accommodation of any sort. Nor was this all. Even +where savings' banks already existed, 355 were open only once a-week, +and that for a few hours; some twice a-week; but very few--only twenty, +in fact--were open for a few hours every day. When, added to all this +want of accommodation and absence of facility, we remember the +unsatisfactory state of the law concerning them, there can be no wonder +that public attention was called to the subject from time to time. So +early as 1807, Mr. Whitbread introduced a Bill into Parliament to make +the money-order office at the post-office available for collecting sums +from all parts of the country, and transmitting them to a central bank +which should be established in London. At that time, the money-order +department of the Post-Office had not arrived at the state of efficiency +to which it subsequently attained, and the Bill was withdrawn. +Other proposals shared the same fate, till, in 1860, Mr. Sykes of +Huddersfield, engaged in the savings' bank of that town, addressed Mr. +Gladstone on the deficiencies of the existing system. Through his +practical acquaintance with the old plan of working, he was able to +demonstrate that increased facilities for depositing at any time, and +almost at any place, were great desiderata amongst the poorer classes. +The same facilities were necessary for withdrawing deposits. Mr. Sykes +proposed that a bank for savings should be opened at every money-order +office in the kingdom; that each postmaster should be authorized to +receive deposits; and that all the offices should have immediate +connexion with a central bank in London. The general principle of this +scheme was at once seen to be useful and practicable, though, again, the +_mode_ of working was evidently unsatisfactory. Mr. Sykes, for +instance, proposed that all payments and withdrawals should be severally +effected by means of money-orders to be drawn for each separate +undertaking. Any one at all acquainted with the machinery of the +money-order office was aware that this would of necessity be a slow and +complex, as well as expensive plan. Mr. Sykes's idea was, that no +deposit should be less in amount than twenty shillings. This +arrangement, again, would have gone far to negative the merits of the +whole plan, and especially to interfere with its usefulness amongst the +classes which the measure was really intended to benefit. For a few +months this scheme, like those preceding it, exhibited signs of +suspended animation, when it was referred to the practical officers of +the revenue department of the Post-Office, and by them resolved into the +simple and comprehensive measure which the Chancellor of the Exchequer +proposed in 1861, and which was the crowning effort of the legislative +session of that year. + +This Bill, entitled "An Act to grant additional facilities for +depositing small savings at interest, with the security of Government +for the due repayment thereof," became law on the 17th of May, 1861. + +The first savings' banks in connexion with the post-offices of the +country were established on the 16th of September, 1861. A limited +number was first organized, and in places where no accommodation of the +kind had ever been afforded. The extension of the scheme to Ireland and +Scotland was effected on the 3d and 17th of February respectively. +Nearly all the 2,879 money-order offices of the United Kingdom are now +post-office savings' banks. These banks are in regular working order, +2,000, in round numbers, existing in England and Wales, 450 in Ireland, +and 400 in Scotland. Many of our largest towns have several banks. Thus, +at the present time, January, 1864, we find five banks in Edinburgh, +five in Glasgow, twelve in Dublin, ten in Liverpool, sixteen in +Manchester, ten in Birmingham, and seven in Bristol. Only seventy of +the entire number of new banks have failed to obtain depositors--a fact +which sufficiently proves that the advantages offered by the Post-Office +establishment are understood and appreciated throughout the kingdom. Up +to the end of 1863, the total number of depositors in new banks had been +367,000, of which number no fewer than 307,000 then held accounts. At +present (March, 1864), the weekly deposits amount, in the aggregate, to +40,000_l._, while the withdrawals are no more than one-third of that +sum. The total amount intrusted to the post-office banks since their +first opening has been 4,702,000_l._, of which sum no less than +3,263,000_l._ remain to the credit of depositors. The most gratifying +fact in connexion with the new banks is, that they show a much larger +proportion of small depositors than the old savings' banks have been +able to attract, the average amount of a deposit being 3_l._ 1_s._ 9_d._ +in the new, against 4_l._ 6_s._ 5_d._ in the old class of banks. + +Between fifty and sixty old savings' banks, including the Birmingham +Bank, closed their accounts during the last year (1863), great part of +the business of each being transferred to the new banks. A sum amounting +to over 500,000_l._ has already been transferred from these banks to the +Post-Office by means of transfer certificates; whilst additional sums, +the amount of which cannot be correctly ascertained, have been withdrawn +from the old and paid into the post-office banks in cash. + +With a view to facilitate the proceedings of the trustees of banks which +have been or may hereafter be closed, an Act of Parliament was passed in +the last session which will doubtless have the effect of winding up the +affairs of many of the smaller banks under the old plan, and increasing +the work of those on the new. + +The _modus operandi_ of this scheme is as simple as it is satisfactory. +On making the first deposit, under the new arrangements, an account-book +is presented to the depositor, in which is entered his name, address, +and occupation. All the necessary printed regulations are given in this +book. The amount of each deposit is inserted by the postmaster, and an +impression of the dated stamp of the post-office is placed opposite the +entry, thus making each transaction strictly official. At the +close of each day's business, the postmaster must furnish to the +Postmaster-General in London a full account of all the deposits that +have been made in his office. By return of post an acknowledgment will +be received by each depositor in the shape of a separate letter from the +head office, the Postmaster-General thus becoming responsible for the +amount. If such a letter does not arrive within ten days from the date +of the deposit an inquiry is instituted, and the error rectified. An +arrangement like the foregoing shows the boundless resources which the +Government possesses in its Post-Office. The acknowledgment of every +separate transaction in each of the money-order offices of the three +kingdoms, which in any private undertaking would be an herculean labour, +involving an enormous outlay in postage alone, is here accomplished with +marvellous ease, and the whole mass of extra communications make but an +imperceptible ripple on the stream of the nation's letters flowing +nightly from St. Martin's-le-Grand. + +When a depositor wishes to withdraw any of his money, he has only to +apply to the nearest post-office for the necessary printed form, and to +fill it up, stating his name and address, where his money is deposited, +the amount he wishes to withdraw, and the place where he wishes it paid, +and by return of post he will receive a warrant, in which the postmaster +named is authorized to pay the amount applied for. In this respect +post-office savings' banks offer peculiar advantages. A depositor, for +instance, visiting the metropolis, and having--as he may easily do in +London--run short of ready money, may, with a little timely notice to +the authorities in London, draw out, in any of the hundred new banks in +the metropolis, from his amount at home sufficient for his needs. +Another person, leaving one town for another, may, without any expense, +and no more trouble than a simple notice, have his account transferred +to his future home, and continue it there under precisely similar +circumstances as those to which he has been accustomed. Last year this +power was largely used, there being no fewer than 20,872 deposits and +15,842 withdrawals made under these circumstances, _e. g._ at places +where the depositor is temporarily residing.[181] The facilities offered +by the Post-Office in this way are unique; no other banks can offer +them; and such is the admirable system adopted by the Post-Office, that +complicated accounts of this nature are reduced to a matter of the +simplest routine. At the end of each month the accounts of the two +offices concerned in transactions of this kind are reconciled by the +addition or deduction of the amounts in question, which arrangement, so +far from being an irksome one, enables the Department to obtain a very +valuable check upon its gross transactions. Under the old system, a +depositor could only effect a transfer of his account from Manchester to +Liverpool by withdrawing it from the one, under the usual long notice, +and taking it to the other. This course was not only troublesome to the +parties concerned, but the depositor ran the risk of losing his money, +or, perhaps, of spending the whole or part of it. Under the Post-Office +system, however, the transfer may be effected in a day or two, without +the depositor even seeing the money, and without the smallest risk of +loss. Suppose a depositor wishes to transfer his account from a bank +under the old plan to one under the new, or _vice versâ_, the matter is +one of equally simple arrangement. He has only to apply to the old +savings' bank for a certificate to enable him to transfer his deposits +in that bank to that belonging to the Post-Office, and when he obtains +such certificate he may present it to any postmaster who transacts +savings'-bank business. The postmaster receives it as if it were so much +money, and issues a depositors' book, treating the case as if the amount +had been handed over to him. A few days longer are required before an +acknowledgment can be sent from London; but this is all the difference +between the case and that of an ordinary savings'-bank deposit[182] + +In the order of advantages which post-office savings' banks offer the +depositor, we would rank next to their unquestionable security their +peculiar convenience for deposit and withdrawal. Twelve months ago, a +person might be the length of an English county distant from a bank for +savings. Under the present arrangement, few persons will be a dozen +miles distant from a money-order office, whilst nine-tenths of the +entire community will find the necessary accommodation at their very +doors. As new centres of population are formed, or as hamlets rise into +flourishing villages, and the want of an office for money-orders becomes +felt, the requirement will continue to be met, with the addition in +each case of a companion savings' bank. Again, the expenses of +management--amounting to a shilling in the old banks for each +transaction, against something like half that amount in the new--will +not allow of the ordinary banks being opened but at a few stated periods +during the week. The post-office savings' bank, attached as it is to the +post-office money-order office, is open to the public full eight hours +of every working day. + +Sums not below one shilling, and amounts not exceeding thirty pounds in +any one year, may be deposited in these banks; depositors will not be +put to any expense for books, postage, &c. and the rate of interest to +be allowed will be 2½ per cent.--a sum which, though not large, is all +which it is found the Government can pay without loss. It is not thought +that this low rate of interest will deter the classes most sought after +from investing in these banks. The poorer classes, as a rule, regard the +question of a safe investment as a more important one than that of +profits, and wisely think far more of their earnings being safe than of +their receiving great returns for them. + +This scheme, last and best of all, must help to foster independent +habits among the working population. Their dealings with the post-office +banks are pure matters of business, and no obligation of any sort is +either given or received. The existing banks, on the other hand, partake +largely of the nature of a charity. An objection frequently urged +against savings' banks with much bitterness is, that many great +employers of labour are on the directorate of such institutions, and +that, consequently, they are able to exercise an oversight over their +characters and savings, not always used for the best of purposes. In the +Committee of Inquiry to which we have already alluded, cases--designated +"rare," we are glad to add--were adduced, from which it appeared that +provident workmen's wages had been reduced by their employers, upon the +ground of their being already well enough off. No such considerations, +however, can affect the new banks: postmasters are forbidden to divulge +the names of any depositor, or any of the amounts which he or she may +have placed in their hands.[183] The advantages of these banks are so +obvious, and the arrangements under which they are worked are of such a +simple nature, that they cannot help but be increasingly useful and +successful. Moreover, they are so accessible, that the working man, +especially, requires nothing but the _will_ to do that which his +everyday experience tells him is so necessary should be done for the +comfort of his family and home. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[180] The case of a fraud of this kind was mentioned by Lord Monteagle +when the Post-Office Savings'-Bank Bill was before the Lords. In a +Hertfordshire Savings' Bank, a deficiency of 10,000_l._ was discovered, +and the entire amount was subscribed by nine of the trustees, who were +noblemen and gentlemen in the neighbourhood. + +[181] One of the first deposits which was made on the first day of +opening in the banks started on the new system was withdrawn the next +week in another town at some distance. The depositor was a person +travelling with a wild beast menagerie.--_Mr. Gladstone's Speech at +Mold_, January 5, 1864. + +[182] Of course in this case inquiry would have to be made of the old +bank and the National Debt Office. Ordinarily, the receipt of letters on +savings'-bank business received in London, involving inquiry, is +promptly acknowledged, the writers being told that the delay of a few +days may occur before a reply can be sent. At the General Savings'-Bank +Office in London, the transactions of each day are disposed of within +that day; the monthly adjustment of accounts being also prompt. Warrants +for withdrawals are issued in reply to every correct notice received up +to eleven o'clock each morning, and these warrants are despatched by the +same day's post to the depositors who have applied for them. Every +letter received up to eleven o'clock A.M. is answered the same day, or +at the latest the next day, if no inquiry involving delay is necessary. +The arrangements for the examination of savings'-bank books every year +are also very admirable. A few days before the anniversary of the first +deposit, an official envelope is sent down from London to every +depositor, in which he or she are asked to enclose their book so that it +may arrive at the chief office at such a date. It makes its appearance +again in the course of two or three days with the entries all checked, +and the interest stated and allowed. See Appendix (B). Also an +interesting paper by Mr. Frank I. Scudamore, the newly-appointed +Assistant Secretary of the Post Office, read before the _Congrès +International de Bienfaisance_, June 11, 1862. + +[183] We have seen complaints made from the public press that in the +Post-Office there is only a pretension to secrecy in this matter, while +the arrangements which make the savings-bank operations so closely +connected with money-order business, conducted by the same clerk at the +same desk, is anything but conducive to desirable privacy. There is much +truth in the latter remark; and if, when the system is perfected and its +work properly gauged, there be no change, the new banks may very +possibly suffer on this account. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +BEING MISCELLANEOUS AND SUGGESTIVE. + + +1. Every person or firm engaged in extensive correspondence should +purchase the "British Postal Guide," at least once a-year. It is +published quarterly, and may be had at any post-office for a shilling. + +2. Those engaged in frequent correspondence with our colonies or with +foreign countries should, in addition, subscribe for the "Postal +Official Circular," published weekly for a penny, which gives the latest +information on all points regarding the incoming and outgoing of all +foreign and colonial mails. + +3. Since the division of the metropolis into postal districts, those +requiring frequent communication with different parts of London will +find of great service a penny book which contains a list of all the +streets, &c. in London and its environs, as divided into the ten +districts, and giving the initials in each case. This book may be +purchased at any post-office. It is said that delay is sometimes avoided +by adding the initials of the London districts to letters forwarded from +the provinces. + +4. As a rule, with few exceptions indeed, letters are forwarded +according to their address. It is of paramount importance, therefore, +that the addresses of letters should not only be legible, but the proper +and the complete address. Perhaps the following suggestions on this head +may be found useful, viz.:-- + + (_a_) Never to post a letter without addressing it either a post + town or a county. If the information cannot otherwise be obtained, + the "British Postal Guide" contains a list of all post-offices in + the United Kingdom, and gives post town to which they are + subordinate. + + (_b_) Letters for small towns or villages ought not to addressed to + the nearest large town, merely because it the _nearest_; although, + as a rule, the town in question will be the correct post town, there + are many exceptions, which can only be known by reference to the + "Guide" provided, or by inquiry. + + (_c_) If the town be not well known, or if there be two towns of the + same name in the country, the _county_ ought to be added. (All the + cities and county towns are well known.) Thus, letters addressed to + Newport should always give the county, inasmuch as there are several + towns and villages of that name in England. Again, letters for + Newcastle should either have the county added, or the usual + designation thus: Newcastle-on-Tyne, Newcastle-under-Lyme, or + Newcastle Emlyn. + + (_d_) Letters posted in England for Scotland or Ireland, _vice + versâ_ (except in the case of the great towns of the three + countries), should have the name of the country to which they are + sent given as part of the address. N. B. (North Britain) for + Scotland, and S. B. (South Britain) for England, would generally be + thought sufficient for letters circulating between the two + countries. + + (_e_) Foreign letters should invariably have the name of the country + given (in English if possible). It ought also to be given in full. + Letters addressed "London, C. W." and intended for London in Western + Canada, have not unfrequently been sent to the West Central District + in London, and so delayed. Letters addressed to "Hamilton, C. W." + have also been mis-sent to Hamilton in Scotland, the initials having + been overlooked. + + (_f_) The street, &c. should be given on all addresses. Well known + persons and firms get their letters, &c. regularly, although this + rule may not be adhered to; but the omission frequently leads to + delays in the _general_ distribution, and sometimes to serious + mistakes. In large towns where many names of firms approximate in + appearance somewhat to each other, the addresses of letters cannot + be too fully given. With London letters, this rule should be + strictly adhered to. + + (_g_) The number of the house, and the correct one, should be + carefully added.[184] When information of this sort is kept back, + hesitation and delay frequently occur in delivery; though, perhaps, + few letters eventually fail to reach their destination on this + account. + +5. Every letter should be examined with care before it is dropped in a +letter-box, in order to see that it has been securely sealed. Thousands +of letters are posted yearly without any precaution of the kind having +been taken with them, the Post-Office authorities having to secure them +as a consequence.[185] Not only so, but twelve thousand letters are +yearly posted without any address at all. + +6. Good adhesive envelopes, not too highly glazed, of the ordinary size, +are sufficient security for letters,[186] if the adhesive matter has +been but _slightly_ wetted. If, for additional security, it be thought +advisable also to seal a letter with wax, it should be placed outside +the envelope. Very frequently, the wax is found to have been placed on +the adhesive matter inside the envelope, thus rendering both +ineffective. + +7. Letters intended for warm climates should not be sealed with wax at +all, inasmuch as there is great danger of the wax melting and injuring +the letter, as well as the other contents of the mail-bag. + +8. Care should be used in securing newspapers and large packets.[187] +Newspapers, when not sent at first from the newspaper offices, should be +addressed on the paper itself and tied with string, as great risk is run +in the matter of covers becoming detached from the newspapers +themselves. Book packets, in addition to being enclosed in covers, +sealed with wax, gum, or other adhesive matter (but open at the ends or +sides), may be tied round the ends with string, as additional security. +When the latter precaution is taken, there is less chance of letters +getting within the folds of the packet, which may happen when it is not +thoroughly secured. + +9. Valuable packets or books, if they cannot be well secured, should +scarcely be sent through the post. All such packets are liable to be +roughly handled, and in the mail-bags exposed to pressure and friction. +When safely deposited in the mail-bags, valuable packets are still in +danger, inasmuch as the bags in many cases are constantly being +transferred from one kind of conveyance to another, and frequently +despatched from railway trains by apparatus machinery whilst the train +is in motion. + +10. Books with valuable bindings, if it is necessary that they should be +sent through the post, might be well secured in strong boards; valuable +papers or prints should be enclosed in strong paper, linen, parchment, +or other material which will not readily tear or break. Fragile articles +of value (which should by all means be registered, as special care will +then be taken of them in all respects) might best be enclosed in wooden +boxes, and then wrapped in paper. + +11. It is hardly necessary now to point out that the postage-stamp +should be placed on the upper right-hand corner of the envelope, and the +address written as much towards the left hand as possible; the address +will then be removed from the stamp and the postmark of the office, +which will be impressed upon the letter before it is despatched. Delay +is caused to the Post-Office operations when the stamp is otherwise +placed; and in cases which occasionally occur, where the stamp is placed +at the _back_ of the letter, it frequently happens that it is sent away +charged with the unpaid postage. + +12. The penny receipt-stamp will not, under any circumstances, serve the +purpose of the penny postage-stamp, though many people would seem to +think differently; all letters bearing a receipt-stamp are, of course, +charged as if unpaid. The two kinds of stamp might easily be +assimilated, and there are rumours that this may soon be done; but they +have their distinct duties at present, and the one cannot take the place +of the other. + +13. The Post-Office stamped envelopes (which may be obtained singly, in +part packets, or entire packets, of two or three sizes, and embossed +with either penny or twopenny stamps) are in every way the most secure; +and if the paper were of better quality, would be quite as economical, +as if the ordinary envelope and the ordinary stamp were used. All risk +of the stamps becoming detached is, of course, avoided by the use of +stamped envelopes. + +14. In place of affixing penny postage-stamps according to the weight of +a letter, however heavy it may be, application might be made for +twopenny, fourpenny, sixpenny, or shilling labels, as the case may be. + +15. In affixing stamps, care should be had lest by excess of moisture +all the gum be washed off.[188] The practice of dipping the stamp in +water is objectionable, except some absorbent be used immediately to +remove any unnecessary moisture. It will be found to be a good plan to +wet slightly the gummed side of the stamp, and also the right-hand +corner of the envelope, and then to keep the finger gently on the stamp +until it is firmly fixed. Highly glazed envelopes should be avoided. + +16. Letters about which any doubt exists should be carefully weighed +before posting. If the Post-Office weight be exceeded to the smallest +extent, even to the turning of the scale, a letter becomes liable to, +and is charged higher postage--viz. the difference in double or unpaid +postage. So trained has the post-office clerk become of late years by a +recent system of surcharges, that few letters can now pass with an +insufficient number of stamps affixed. To provide against errors in +scales, &c. it would be well in all cases to allow a little margin, or +ask that the letter be weighed in the post-office scales. + +In the case of newspapers and book-packets, the same remarks, as well as +the same arrangements, apply. It should be particularly remembered that +a newspaper when posted, say wet from the printing-office, will often +weigh more than it does on delivery; hence surcharges for which the +receiver sometimes cannot account. + +17. In posting letters, care should be taken to see that they fall into +the box, and do not stick in the passage. The pillar-boxes of our towns, +whatever may be said to the contrary, are completely safe as a +rule, though the same care should be exercised in depositing the +letters.[189] + +18. The earlier a letter is posted the better in all cases: towards the +time for the closing of the letter-box, great haste is indispensably +necessary in the manipulations which a town's correspondence must +undergo, whilst earlier on it gets carefully disposed of in proper box +and bag. When letters or newspapers are posted in great numbers, as in +the case of circulars, they should be posted as early as practicable, +and should be tied up in bundles with the addresses all in one +direction, or they may be delayed in the press of work.[190] + +19. Every letter of consequence put into the post should contain the +name of the sender and also his address, in order that, if it cannot be +delivered as addressed, it may be promptly returned to the writer. + +20. All business letters, at any rate, might have the sender's name and +address embossed on the back of the envelope. On failure to deliver such +letters, they would then be returned to the writers without being +opened. Care should be taken, however, not to use envelopes with another +person's name embossed in this way, as the letter will be forwarded back +to the address thus given, though it should not happen to be the +sender's own. + +21. Coin is prohibited to be sent in ordinary letters passing between +one part of the United Kingdom and another.[191] If a letter be posted +containing coin, it will be registered and charged a double registration +fee. Coins or any other articles of value, if properly secured, will be +certain of careful treatment under the registration system.[192] + +22. Letters meant to be registered must never be dropped into the +letter-box as in the case of ordinary letters, but should be given to +the clerk in charge of the post-office counter or window to be dealt +with, who will in each case give his receipt for it. The receipt is the +sender's evidence that it has been posted in proper course. + +23. Letters containing sharp instruments, liquids, &c. or any other +articles which would be likely of themselves, or if they should escape, +to do injury to the other contents of the mail-bag, should never be +posted. Postmasters have instructions not to forward such letters +according to their address, but, when observed, to send them to the +Dead-Letter Office, from which place they will be returned to the +writers. Valuable letters of this forbidden kind, therefore, run great +risks of delay, while the articles are liable to be destroyed in their +passage through the post.[193] + +24. Though the transmission of coin in letters is now absolutely +forbidden, except under the registration scheme, arrangements are made +for rendering it easy to send small sums by post in postage-stamps. When +presented at any of the numerous money-order offices in the United +Kingdom, they may be exchanged for money, at a charge of 2½ per cent. +Any person wishful to send through the post a sum of money under five or +six shillings will find it cheaper to buy stamps and enclose them, in +place of a post-office order. One penny will be charged for buying +forty stamps, a halfpenny for twenty stamps. 60,000_l._ worth of +postage-stamps were bought from the public during the year 1862. + +25. In sending postage-stamps in letters, care should be taken to use +_thick_ envelopes, so that enclosures of this kind may neither be seen +nor felt. It is easy to feel a quantity of postage-stamps in a letter +sent in a thin and crisp envelope, and some official becoming aware of +this may not be able to resist the temptation to appropriate them. + +26. No enclosures whatever should be sent in newspapers impressed with +the regular newspaper-stamp. Even an old address of such a newspaper +should be carefully cut out. It is not enough that it be obliterated +with the pen, as the rules forbid writing of any kind in addition to the +mere address.[194] + +With newspapers stamped by the ordinary postage-label the arrangements +are quite different. Any printed paper or manuscript may be folded up +with the newspaper on which an ordinary penny-stamp is placed, provided +the total amount of the package does not exceed four ounces. The old +address (supposing the newspaper has circulated through the post before) +may be left on or not at the discretion of the sender, as this does not +interfere with the regulation that nothing in the packet shall be of the +nature of a letter. On the other hand, any sentence or message written +in ink or pencil on any part of the paper makes the packet liable to the +unpaid letter-rate of postage. + +27. When any letter, book-packet, or newspaper is lost, miscarried, or +delayed, inquiry should be made as soon as evidence has been obtained +that the article in question was really posted. The postmaster of the +town should be informed by the complainant of every particular relating +to the missing letter, &c. the day and hour of its posting, the office +at which and the person by whom this was done. In cases of delay or +mis-sending, the covers ought to be produced in order that the office +stamps on them may indicate the exact place where the delay has been +occasioned. Correspondence on the subject of the complaints will +subsequently be carried on between the applicant and the Secretary's +department in England, Scotland, or Ireland, as the case may be. + +28. When any one has reason to believe that he has paid extra postage on +a letter or packet improperly, or has been charged more than the case +would warrant, he should apply to his postmaster, who will bring the +case before the notice of the Secretary, when, if any mistake has been +made, the money will be refunded by order. Postmasters cannot return +postage paid improperly until instructed to do so from the chief +offices. + +29. When an unpaid letter is presented to a person who has not the means +at disposal of paying the demand upon it (some foreign or colonial +letter may be taxed heavily), it will be kept at the post-office a +month, _if a request be made to that effect_, in order that efforts may +be made to obtain the necessary money to release it. + +30. Postmasters and their clerks are forbidden to be parties to the +deceptions which used to be practised, and which are now sometimes +attempted, as to the place of posting of a letter. If any communication +should be forwarded, under cover, to the postmaster of a provincial +town, with a request that it may be posted at his office, it will be +sent to the Returned-Letter Branch in London, and from thence to the +writer. + +31. Advertisements are occasionally seen, and applications frequently +made, for defaced postage-stamps. It is stated, in some cases, that a +given number will gain certain individuals admission to different +charitable institutions. Whatever may be the purpose for which the old +stamps are required, the Post-Office authorities have found, by inquiry, +that the ostensible reason here given has uniformly been false. It is +sometimes feared that attempts are made to clean and re-issue them, +though this can be attended with but partial success. It is much more +probable that they are sought to indulge some whim, such as papering +boxes or even rooms. + +32. With reference to money-orders, the public should be careful-- + + (_a_) Always to give particulars of any order required _in writing_. + When a number of orders are required, to write out a full list of + them. Forms for single orders may be had gratuitously at all + money-order offices. These forms, or other written papers, are + invariably kept on files for a given time, so that reference may + easily be made to them in the event of any mistake. Mistakes may, of + course, be made either by the applicant or the clerk on duty. If, on + production of the paper, the error is seen to have been the + sender's, he must pay (generally a second commission) for the + necessary alterations: if, however, it be proved to be caused by the + clerk issuing the order, the Post-Office calls upon the latter to + bear the expense himself. + + (_b_) Never to present an order for payment on the day on which it + is issued, nor, on the other hand, to allow two months to elapse + before calling for payment.[195] + + (_c_) When sending an order, either to send it to its destination + singly, or in a letter signed only by initials. Money-orders passing + between friends need not be accompanied with information such as is + sometimes required in business transactions. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[184] The irregularities and eccentricities in the numbering of streets +and houses is a great difficulty. On one occasion a London inspector of +letter-carriers, going round the districts, noticed a brass-plate with +the number 95 between two houses numbered respectively 15 and 16. He +made inquiry, when the old lady who tenanted the house said that the +number had belonged to a former residence, and, thinking it a pity that +it should be thrown away, she had transferred it to her new home, +supposing that it would do as well as any other number! + +[185] About two hundred letters pass through the General Post-Office +every day unsealed. + +[186] It is calculated that 91 per cent. of the letters circulating +through the United Kingdom are enclosed in envelopes; the number of +those sent abroad in envelopes is somewhat smaller, or about 65 per +cent. + +[187] The number of newspapers delivered in 1862 amounted to nearly +73,000,000, a considerable increase on the previous year. The number of +book-packets exceeded 14,000,000, being an increase on the previous year +of about 1,700,000, or nearly 14 per cent. Upwards of 400,000 +newspapers, or about one in two hundred, were undelivered in the same +year, about half of which failures arose from improper or incorrect +addresses, while the remainder were owing to the newspapers becoming +detached from their covers in transit through the post. + +[188] It is calculated that every year nearly fifty thousand +postage-stamps rub off letters and newspapers in their passage through +the Post-Office. At one time the quality of the adhesive matter was +called in question, loud complaint, even ridicule, settling on the +theme. Now, however, that the gum is better the number of stamps which +"will not stick" is scarcely perceptibly smaller. + +[189] Only one instance is on record of any violent and wilful attempt +to damage a pillar letter-box. This is the more wonderful as the +temptation to lift the lid and contribute articles not contemplated by +our postage-system must naturally be strong in the eyes of our City +Arabs. A singular accident befell one of these letter-boxes (1862) in +Montrose. A quantity of gas from the street pipes seems to have got into +the box, and a night-watchman to have ignited it by striking a match on +the top in order to light his pipe. The top was blown off and the +pillar-box hopelessly damaged, although the watchman and the letters +escaped without injury. + +[190] The following announcement from the postmaster of Manchester, as +given in a bill dated 1721, contrasts strangely with the latitude +allowed now. "The post goes out to London," says he, "on Monday, +Wednesday, and Saturday, at nine o'clock in the morning. It will be best +to bring the letters the _night before the going out of the post_, +because the accounts and baggs are usually made up _over-night_." In +these days, when we may post up to within five minutes of the despatch +of a mail, and letters for America may be posted within ten minutes of +the sailing of the packet, we cannot be too thankful for our privileges. + +[191] This arrangement does not apply to foreign letters coming to or +going out of this country. + +[192] The number of registered letters last year was over two millions, +or one registered letter to about three hundred ordinary letters. + +[193] Most of our readers will have heard or read stories of curious +articles passing through the post, and without doubt the records of the +Returned-Letter Branch of the London Office will present strange +appearances in this respect. Sir Francis B. Head, who was permitted to +peruse an extraordinary ledger in the General Post-Office where several +notable letters and packets were registered, has strung together a +catalogue of them, which reminds us of the articles passing through the +post before the revocation of the franking privilege. He tells us he +found amongst the number--two canaries; a pork-pie from Devonport to +London; a pair of piebald mice, which were kept at the office a month, +and duly fed till they were called for by the owner; two rabbits; +plum-pudding; leeches in bladders, "several of which having burst, many +of the poor creatures were found crawling over the correspondence of the +country." Further, there was a bottle of cream from Devonshire; a pottle +of strawberries; a sample bottle of cider; half a pound of soft soap +wrapped in thin paper; a roast duck; a pistol, _loaded almost to the +mouth with slugs and ball_; a live snake; a paper of fish-hooks; fish +innumerable; and last of all, and most extraordinary of all, a human +heart and stomach.--_Head's Essays._ + +[194] The annual return just published (February, 1864) shows to some +extent how far the public prefers the stamped newspaper, which can be +sent through the Post-Office, in fact, until it is fifteen days old. The +number of stamps issued to the principal London newspapers from June, +1862, to June, 1863, are as follows:-- + +_Times_, 2,782,206; _Express_, 261,038; _Morning Post_, 260,000; _Daily +News_, 124,888; _Morning Herald_, 103,256; _Globe_, 140,000; _Shipping +Gazette_, 261,000; _Evening Standard_, 80,020; _Evening Star_, 75,000; +_Evening Mail_ (thrice a week), took 345,000; _St. James's Chronicle_, +89,000; _Record_, 423,500; _The Guardian_ (weekly), 219,300; _The +Illustrated London News_, 1,136,062; _Punch_, 129,500. Eleven English +country newspapers took 100,000 each, the principal being the _Sussex +Express_, 336,000, and the _Stamford Mercury_, 334,276. Thirty country +newspapers bought more than 50,000 stamps. + +[195] Many orders are never claimed at all. In Ireland twice as many +orders are allowed to "lapse" as in England or Scotland, though there +are many more orders granted in the two latter countries than in +Ireland. Perhaps the fact may be accounted for by the wretched addresses +of most Irish letters, which make it impossible to deliver many of them +and equally impossible to return them to the writers. Of ordinary +money-orders, one in 837 are unclaimed within two months; whilst as a +curious fact, instancing the pertinacity of a careless habit, it may be +stated that when these very orders have been renewed on payment of a +second commission, one in every thirty-nine are again overlooked, and +allowed to lapse, many of them, in fact, becoming entirely cancelled, +and the money forfeited. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONCERNING SOME OF THE POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS TO +WHICH THE POST-OFFICE IS LIABLE. + + +The Post-Office, from its peculiar organization and the nature of its +business, is liable to many misconceptions from which the other great +Government Departments are more or less free. In one of the reports of +the Postmaster-General, many of these misunderstandings are recounted +and answered with an evident endeavour to bring about a better feeling +between the people and the people's Post-Office. We cannot do better +than refer here to a few of the instances given, supplementing them by +more which have been suggested to us from that consideration of the +entire economy of the Post-Office, into which we have been led in +dealing with our subject. + +1. Unquestionably, the Post-Office is blamed for many errors and +shortcomings which ought never to have been charged against it. On this +important point, the evidence given by each Post-Office Report is +remarkably clear, although, by the way, a writer in a recent number of a +highly respectable quarterly review regards the instances given by +successive Postmaster-Generals as so many "testimonials to character," +reminding him--so he scurvily added--of nothing so much as "the +testimonials given by dyspeptic noblemen in favour of the Revalenta +Arabica or Holloway's Pills and Ointment."[196] Of course, much trouble +and many losses must, from time to time and at all times, have been +caused by the carelessness or dishonesty of some of many thousand +officials of the Post-Office, though the cases are far from few, and the +authorities, in which it has been shown, to the satisfaction even of the +complainant, that the fault at first attributed to the Post-Office +rested really in other quarters. Some examples are afforded. The +publisher of one of the London papers complained of the repeated loss in +the Post-Office of copies of his journal, addressed to persons abroad. +An investigation showed that the abstraction was made by the publisher's +clerk, his object apparently being to appropriate the stamps required to +defray the foreign postage. In another case, a general complaint having +arisen as to the loss of newspapers sent to the chief office in St. +Martin's-le-Grand, the investigation led to the discovery of a regular +mart held near the office, which was supplied with newspapers by the +private messengers employed to convey them to the post. Again: A man was +detected once in robbing a newsvendor's cart by volunteering, on its +arrival at the entrance of the General Post-Office, to assist the driver +in posting the newspapers. Instead of doing so, however, he walked +through the hall with those intrusted to him, and, upon his being +stopped, three quires of a weekly paper were found in his possession. + +To these cases of newspapers let us add a few concerning letters, the +substance of which are adduced in subsequent reports. Thus, a letter +containing a cheque for 12_l._ and sent to a London firm, was said not +to have reached its destination; the Post-Office was blamed for not +delivering it; inspectors were set to work, and after a diligent search, +it was traced from the premises of the person to whom it was addressed +to those of a papier-maché manufacturer, where it doubtless had been +pulped into tea-trays or writing-cases. Again: A bank agent sends his +son to the post with a letter, which on his journey he opens. Spying a +figured cheque, he abstracts it, and posts the letter without it, and it +is afterwards found ornamenting his copy-book! Another bank agent sends +his youthful son to the post-office to receive for him his letters, one +of which, containing some very valuable inclosures, he leaves in his +pocket, and immediately afterwards leaves town for school, carrying with +him the precious missive--worth some 1,500_l._--where it consorts with +his marbles, Everton toffy, and cold Bologna sausage, till the vacation, +the lad all the time being in blissful unconsciousness of the stir +paterfamilias was making about it. Another person complained that +several of his letters were not forthcoming. This case was a mystery. At +length it struck one of the shrewd officials--who grow shrewd through +dint of unravelling the most curious cases--that the letter-box at the +person's door ought to be carefully examined. This was done, and the box +was found exceedingly defective. Fifteen letters were jammed between the +box and the door, where some of them had quietly reposed for the space +of nine years.[197] The secretary of a charitable institution in London +gave directions for posting a large number of "election papers," and +supposed that his directions had been duly acted upon. Shortly, however, +he received complaints of the non-receipt of many of the papers, and in +other cases of delay. He at once lodged a strong complaint at the +Post-Office; but, on examination, circumstances soon came to light which +cast suspicion on the person employed to post the notices, although this +man had been many years in the service of the society, and was supposed +to be of strict integrity. Ultimately, the man confessed that he +embezzled the postage (3_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._), and had endeavoured to +deliver the election papers himself. Once more: A short time since a +registered letter was said to have been posted at Newcastle, addressed +to a banker in Edinburgh, who, not receiving it according to his +expectation, sent a telegraphic message to learn why it had not been +forwarded. The banker supposed that the letter had been lost or +purloined in the Post-Office; but it was at last found to have been duly +delivered to the bank porter in order to post it, but he had locked it +up in his desk and forgotten it. + +2. The knowledge of the following misconception may also help to save +the public and the Post-Office a great amount of trouble. "It is often +assumed," says the Postmaster-General, "that a mail-conveyance passing +by, or through a place, ought, as a matter of course, to deposit," there +and then, "the letters directed thereto; the practice being, on the +contrary, that until the mail arrives at the head post-office of the +district, the letters in question are not separated from the other +letters of the district. A slight consideration of the nature and +objects of the postal service will show that such separation cannot be +effected in any other way, unless, indeed, the mail-conveyance, even +supposing it to be but a _mail-cart_, were converted into a travelling +post-office, and furnished with clerks of unlimited local knowledge +(which is plainly impossible), or unless every town and village in the +kingdom, having any correspondence with the place in question, were to +make up a bag for that place; in which case its mail would contain +nearly as many bags as letters." + +3. "It happens from time to time that, owing to the stream of postal +communications having been diverted from the old mail-road to a line of +railway, or from other causes of like nature, it becomes desirable to +reduce the post-office of a town from the condition of a _principal_ +office to that of a _sub_-office. This step not unfrequently gives rise +to complaints, the inhabitants being under the impression that they will +not in future be so well served. This is a misconception. The change is +not made when it will subject the correspondence to delay; nor does it +cause any withdrawal of accommodation in respect to money-orders. It is, +in fact, only a departmental arrangement, which consists in carrying on +the sorting of the letters for the new sub-office at some intermediate +office, instead of sending the letters in direct bags." + +4. "Another misconception, which occasionally causes trouble and +disappointment, consists in assuming that a discretionary power can be +intrusted to subordinate officers to remit penalties or overcharges +under special circumstances. Cases will occur in which strict observance +of a general rule may inflict more or less injustice upon individuals, +and where a dispensing power immediately at hand might furnish a remedy. +In an establishment as large and as widely spread as the Post-Office, +however, there will always be many subordinate officers, some of them +carrying on their duties beyond the easy reach of any supervising +authority, who are not fit depositaries of such a power, affecting, as +it would to a great degree, the public revenue. It therefore +becomes necessary to lay down definite and precise rules, from +which no departure can be allowed, except under sanction of the +Postmaster-General; and in the few instances in which these rules press +hardly, appeal must be made to the General Post-Office. It must be +added, that in many instances even such appeal is necessarily fruitless, +the Postmaster-General being bound to a particular course by positive +law." + +5. "In regard to the expense of railway conveyance, the public naturally +supposes, that as such conveyance is cheapest for ordinary purposes, and +as the charges made for the carriage of mails are subject to +arbitration, that it must be cheapest for postal purposes also; and, +indeed, so cheap, as to warrant the free use of the railways, either as +substitutes for other conveyance, or for the multiplication of mails. +The fact, however, is very different. Except in certain instances, where +companies have entered into arrangements, securing to the Post-Office +the use of their trains on moderate, though still highly remunerative +terms, railway conveyance, with all its acknowledged advantages, has +proved much more expensive than that which it has superseded." We have +already spoken at length of railways in relation to the Post-Office, and +will not here add any further remark. + +6. The English Postmaster-General is frequently supposed to have some +control over colonial post-offices, and even those of foreign countries. +Except at Gibraltar and Malta, however, he is quite powerless out of the +United Kingdom. + +7. Frequent applications are made, it seems, for extra foreign and +colonial mails, yet those existing are only kept up at a ruinous loss. +Of the eight great lines of packet communication, only one pays its +expenses and yields a profit. If the letters sent abroad were charged +with the whole cost of the packets, the foreign agencies, and other +incidental expenses, not only would all the sea-postage be swallowed up, +but the mails would entail a loss of nearly four hundred thousand pounds +a year. "We want," said a leading weekly commercial paper lately, +"increased facilities for communication with our West Indian Colonies;" +yet every letter now forwarded to those colonial possessions of ours +costs one shilling over and above the postage charged! On each letter +conveyed between this country and the Cape there is a dead loss of +sixpence; to the West Coast of Africa, one shilling and sixpence. +Everybody has heard of the New Galway line of packets for America, now +suspended for the second time: every letter carried by these packets +under their first contract was charged _one_, and cost the country _six_ +shillings; under the second attempt, each letter is said to have cost +even more than six shillings! With the change of system and change of +management, described briefly in speaking of the packet service, there +can be no question that this state of things will not be allowed to +continue. The principle of requiring the colonies themselves to pay a +moiety of the cost of their service is a step in the right direction, +and is, certainly, only just:[198] the colonies will not be taxed for +the mother-country, as in one memorable instance in history, nor, as at +present, will the mother-country be taxed unfairly for the colonies: +there will then be equal interest in keeping down the expenditure, and +in establishing rates of postage high enough to be remunerative. + +8. The English Post-Office will compare favourably with that of any +nation in the world. In no country are post-office privileges procured +cheaper than with us. Like any other institution capable of endless +growth, and which must grow and expand with the progressive influences +of the times, it clearly is not perfect in every arrangement; but in +answer to complaints of the hard, unyielding, and stringent rules which +are said to bind the English Post-Office, it may not be out of place to +institute a few comparisons, asking that some reference should be made +to contemporary history. In England, coin was suffered for many years to +pass in ordinary letters, to the temptation and seduction of many of the +officers, and the practice grew from a thoughtless economy, in spite of +all the appeals that were made to the contrary. At present coin is not +allowed to pass through the post-office, except in registered letters: +in France it has long been, and is now, a _penal_ offence to transmit +coin in letters.[199] At the time Sir Rowland Hill was urging his +penny-postage scheme on the attention of the British Legislature, +another European State (Piedmont, 1837) had the most stringent and +severe regulations maintained in its Post-Office. The law punished any +one posting a book or a newspaper opposed to the principles of the +monarchy with from two to five years' hard labour; any one who might +receive of such newspapers or books through the post without having +delivered it into the hands of the authorities with two years' +imprisonment; a reward of one hundred crowns was offered to any one +giving information. These arbitrary and iniquitous laws are equalled and +even surpassed, in European codes of still later date--witness Russia +and, until quite recently, Austria. + +9. The opinion is frequently expressed in conversation, and we have +often met with such expressions of opinion in our daily and weekly +press, to the effect that the Post-Office ought to give more +accommodation to the public in many ways, and so disburse some, if not +all, of its enormous profits. These profits are said to be absurdly +large; that fifty per cent. is ten times the interest of money lent on +decent security, and five times as much as would satisfy sanguine +private speculators. This subject of Post-Office profits is made, _de +facto_, the principal argument against what is called the Post-Office +monopoly. + +We have already, in other parts of this book, offered an opinion on +steps which might be taken in the way of affording extra facilities to +the public. A cheaper sea service and a halfpenny post for our towns are +two of the most important and most practicable measures. Granted that +our packet service ought to be kept up as at present, we have an +invincible argument for universal free deliveries at home. When +asked[200] if he thought it necessary that our Colonies should have +greater postal facilities than they could pay for, Mr. Hamilton, +Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, answered that "a colony might +reasonably complain if it was deprived of advantages of postal +communication, simply because that postal communication might not be +remunerative." Again, on the question of Post-Office revenue,[201] "I +think the first charge upon that revenue is to supply reasonably all +portions of Her Majesty's dominions with postal communication," which +consideration, it seems to us, will apply equally at home and abroad. +Still more important seems the plan of a halfpenny post for local +letters, that is, for letters posted and delivered in the same town. +Before the days of penny postage, we had penny posts in all the +principal towns of the country. A halfpenny post, if only applied to our +largest towns, where it would be certain to be remunerative,[202] would +have the effect of materially lessening the weight of the argument that +our present rate of charges is anomalous and unfair. But this would be +by no means the most important result. Such posts would necessitate more +frequent deliveries in provincial towns--the postmen to be paid +accordingly as fully, and not as now, only partially, employed. On the +other hand, it is quite clear that the Post-Office net revenue is a fair +and honourable item on the credit side of the Government accounts, with +which the public, except through their representatives in Parliament, +have nothing whatever to do. The penny postage scheme was carried +through Parliament in the confident expectation resolutely urged by the +intrepid founder of that scheme, that all the benefits promised under it +would result to the country, without any great relinquishment of +Post-Office revenue, and that only for a term of years. Gradually, year +by year, with enormous gain to the public convenience in innumerable +ways, the revenue derivable from this branch of the service has risen +beyond the highest standard of the past. Any relinquishment of the +profits--which, by the way, staves off other taxes--depends on +Parliament, and not on the Post-Office.[203] + +10. Perhaps of all the prevalent misconceptions to which the public have +been, and still are, liable, none is so unfounded as that the servants +of the Post-Office are, as a body, ill-used and ill-paid. Without +question, individual cases of hardship and inequality exist; but that +there is anything inherently wrong in the system, or that that system is +administered with harshness or partiality, or that there is in this +Department more than the usual modicum of cases in which the legislation +for the many presses heavily on the few, no one who will make himself +acquainted with the subject in all its bearings can believe for a +moment. Statements to a contrary effect have often appeared in the +public newspapers; instead, however, of representing the feelings of the +officers, they have much more frequently goaded them into discontent, no +doubt, at times, against their better feeling and judgment. Two or three +years ago, the Postmaster-General, in referring to these statements, +dwelt upon the weight of responsibility resting with that part of the +public press who, unthinkingly, and on an _ex parte_ view of their case, +indulged the martial sentiments of the men with encouragement to the +utter abandonment of discipline and control. We incline to the belief +that the time will come when, in the provinces for instance, more +liberal allowances will be made to the lower grades of Post-Office +officials; when the graphic description already given by the postman +poet would, if uttered, be regarded as a libel on his class of officers. +On the other hand, with regard to the same class of men in the +metropolitan office, the more the question is calmly considered, the +less reason is there for sympathy with the popular view. In 1860, the +_Times_ gave a dismal account of the sufferings of the London +letter-carriers, whose cause it espoused more warmly than wisely. +"Hard-worked and ill-paid," said the leading journal, "these men are all +discontented and sullen; they are indifferent to the proper performance +of their duties, and hold the threat of dismissal in utter disdain, +feeling sure, as they say, that even stone-breaking on the road-side +would not be harder labour and scarcely less remunerative." A short time +after, the other side of the picture relating to these would-be +stone-breakers was given, not by an anonymous writer in the _Times_, +but by a Cabinet Minister. The report of the late Lord Elgin stated that +"there need not be the least difficulty in procuring, at the present +wages, honest, intelligent, and industrious young men, perfectly +qualified for the office of letter-carrier: and, I may add, that in +cases of dismissal--happily a rare occurrence, considering the number of +men employed--the most strenuous efforts are made to obtain readmission +to the service." Regarding the question in a practical common-sense +light, there could be no manner of doubt as to which statement should +carry most weight. Other organs of the press, however, either thought +differently, or dispensed with the preliminary investigation which the +Post-Office courts rather than discourages, and which inquiry it would +only have been fair to make. Only last year an important commercial +paper commented sympathisingly on "the loud and deep complainings of the +London letter-carrier, of the grinding oppression to which they are +subjected, and their ineffectual struggles to obtain redress;" and this +opinion was echoed round by many smaller lights. + +What, however, are the facts? The rate of wages of the lowest class of +letter-carriers in London ranges from 18_s._ to 25_s._ a week. Each man +(who must necessarily begin _under 21 years of age_) commences at the +former sum, and steadily advances at the rate of a shilling more each +year, till he attains the maximum of 25_s._ This is for the lowest +class, be it remembered: but besides the chances of rising into a higher +class of carrier, he has the prospect, realized by many in the course of +two or three years, of being promoted to the higher grade of sorter. If, +as some have been, he be appointed to the corps of travelling sorters, +he will nearly double his income at a bound. But not to dwell on chances +of promotion, the letter-carrier, in addition to his wages, is allowed +to receive Christmas-boxes; and many thus receive, as the public must +know well, most substantial additions to their income. He is supplied +with two suits of clothes, one for summer, and the other for winter +wear. If ill, he has medical attendance and medicine gratis. When +unfitted for work, he may retire upon a pension for which he has not now +to pay a farthing; and during service, if he insure his life for the +benefit of his family, the Post-Office will assist him to pay his +premiums, by allowing him 20 per cent. on all his payments. Every year +he is allowed a fortnight's holiday, without any deduction from his pay; +many spare hours each day he may devote to other pursuits, for if, when +at work at the office, his hours of duty exceed eight hours daily, he is +at full liberty to ask for investigation and redress. In short, a London +letter-carrier is in as good a position, relatively, as many skilled +artisans, without, as regards his pay, being subject to any of the +contingencies of weather, trade, and misfortune, which make the wages of +other workmen occasionally so precarious, and without having had to go +through any expensive apprenticeship or preparation for his calling, as +in the case of most of the numerous handicrafts of life.[204] + +Finally, it cannot truly be said that the Post-Office institution is not +moving with the age, but is as it used to be, intrenched in the +traditions of the past. Different from other departments, with their +undeviatingly narrow routine, the Post-Office is managed with that +enlightened policy which openly invites suggestion and criticism; nay, +it goes further, and offers rewards to persons, either in its employ or +otherwise, who may devise any plan for accelerating its business. +Post-Office work is of such a nature that the Post-Office establishment +admits of constant improvement as well as constant expansion. The +authorities publicly intimate that they will be glad to receive clear +and correct information respecting any faulty arrangements, promising +that such information shall have the best attention of the practical +officers of the department. At the same time, they take the opportunity +to urge upon John Bull the practice of patience, reminding him of what +he is often inclined to forget, that changes in machinery so extensive +and delicate must be made carefully, and only after the most mature +thought and fullest investigation. "The Post-Office," says Mr. Mathew D. +Hill, the respected Recorder of Birmingham,[205] "no longer assumes to +be perfect, and its conductors have renounced their claims to +infallibility. Suggested improvements, if they can sustain the +indispensable test of rigid scrutiny, are welcomed, and not, as of old, +frowned away. The Department acts under the conviction that to thrive it +must keep ahead of all rivals; that it must discard the confidence +heretofore placed in legal prohibitions, and seek its continuance of +prosperity only by deserving it." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[196] In this category we suppose the reviewer placed the following +letter addressed to the Secretary of the Post-Office, from Lord +Cranworth when Lord Chancellor. We adduce it here, on the contrary, as a +specimen of a handsome and manly apology: "Sir,--Complaints were made +early last month, that a letter posted by Mr. Anderson, of Lincoln's +Inn, and addressed to me, had never reached its destination.... You +caused inquiry to be made.... I feel it a duty to you, Sir, and the +Post-Office authorities, to say that I have just found the missing +letter, which has been accidentally buried under a heap of other papers. +I have only to regret the trouble which my oversight thus caused, and to +take the earliest opportunity of absolving all persons, except myself, +of blame in the matter. I have, &c. &c. CRANWORTH." Somewhat similar to +the above case, occurring only last year, we may refer to the +circumstance, probably in the memory of most of our readers, when, among +a batch of complainants whose letters The _Times_ admitted to its +columns, was one from the late Mr. John Gough Nicholls, the eminent +_littérateur_, who grieved bitterly that a letter sent through the post +to him had not arrived at his address. From a manly apology which he +made to the Post-Office authorities a few days afterwards, also given in +The _Times_, it appeared that the reason why he never received the +letter was, that _it had not been sent through the Post-Office_, as it +ought to have been, but was delivered by a private messenger at another +house in the street. + +[197] We do not mention this latter circumstance, be it understood, to +discourage the use of slits or letter-boxes in private doors. An +occurrence of the above kind must be exceedingly rare, whilst nothing so +much helps the prompt delivery of letters as such an arrangement. + +[198] Perhaps, however, there is room to doubt whether the true reform +will consist in anything less than the entire abolition of packet +subsidies, and the offering of the contracts in the ordinary way of +commercial transactions. An ocean penny-postage, _e. g._ penny +sea-postage, would then be almost inevitable. A letter charged a penny +the half-ounce would amount to nearly 300_l._ a ton, an enormous +freightage it will be admitted, to the United States, being even fifteen +times steam freight to India. Nor when the letters get across the sea +would they be subject to heavy inland postage either in the one country +or the other. In the United States letters are circulated for thousands +of miles for three cents, while for half an anna, a sum equivalent to +three farthings of English money, a letter may be forwarded through the +length and breadth of British India. + +[199] As another example, take the United States, with Mr. Anthony +Trollope for a judge on postal concerns. In his _North America_, vol. +ii. p. 368, we read: "It is, I think, undoubtedly true that the amount +of accommodation given by the Post-Office of the States is small, as +compared with that afforded in some other countries, and that that +accommodation is lessened by delays and uncertainty.... Here in England, +it is the object of our Post-Office to carry the bulk of our letters at +night, to deliver them as early as possible in the morning, and to +collect them and take them away for despatch as late as may be in the +day; so that the merchant may receive his letters before the beginning +of his day's business, and despatch them after its close. In the States +no such practice prevails. Letters arrive at any hour of the day +miscellaneously, and were despatched at any hour. I found that the +postmaster of one town could never tell me with certainty when letters +would arrive at another. I ascertained, moreover, by painful experience +that the _whole_ of a mail would not always go forward by the first +despatch. As regarded myself, this had reference chiefly to English +letters and newspapers. 'Only a part of the mail has come,' the clerk +would tell me. With us the owners of that part which did not _come_ +would consider themselves greatly aggrieved and make loud complaint. +But, in the States, complaints made against official departments are +held to be of little moment." We are further told that the "letters are +subject to great delays by irregularities on railways. They have no +travelling post-offices in the States, as with us. And, worst of all, +there is no official delivery of letters." "The United States' +Post-Office," says Mr. Trollope, "does not assume to itself the duty of +taking letters to the houses of those for whom they are intended, but +holds itself as having completed the work for which the original postage +has been paid when it has brought them to the window of the post-office +of the town to which they are addressed." The recognised official mode +of delivery is from the office window, many inhabitants paying for +private boxes at the post-office. If delivered, a further sum must be +paid the bearer. Surely English people have reason to be content with +their privileges, and in a certain degree to "rest and be thankful." + +[200] Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on Packet and +Telegraph Contracts, p. 27. + +[201] _Ibid._ p. 34. + +[202] A halfpenny post is in full operation at the city of Quebec. + +[203] The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his place in Parliament, has +just adverted (April) to the argument indicated above. "If the +Post-Office revenue be abandoned in whole, or in part, a gap will be +created which will have to be supplied by direct taxation." That our +postage rates may be regarded as a kind of mild taxation, not unfairly +levied, and that the work is done by the State with more uniformity of +purpose and greater regularity than would be possible under any private +company, our senators agree, perhaps with the single exception of Mr. +Roebuck. That gentleman, however, it will be remembered, held that +Sebastapol might have been reduced more easily had the business been +made a subject of contract! With respect to the state monopoly and the +advantages derived from it, political economists are also pretty well +agreed. Blackstone has been referred to previously. Sergeant Stephens, +in his _Commentaries_, endorses Blackstone's views. Mr. M'Cullagh, in +his _Principles of Political Economy_, is so clear on this point that we +venture to make a quotation: "Perhaps, with the single exception of the +carriage of letters, there is no branch of industry which Government had +not better leave to be conducted by individuals. It does not, however, +appear that the Post-Office could be so well conducted by any other +party as by Government; the latter only can enforce perfect regularity +in all its subordinate departments, can carry it into the smallest +villages and even beyond the frontier, and can combine all its separate +parts into one uniform system on which the public may rely for security +and despatch. Besides providing for the speedy and safe communication of +intelligence, the Post-Office has everywhere almost been rendered +subservient to fiscal purposes, and made a source of revenue; and +provided the duty on letters be not so heavy as to oppose any very +serious obstacle to the frequency and facility of correspondence, it +seems to be a most unobjectionable tax; and is paid and collected with +little trouble and inconvenience." Fourth Edition, 1849, pp. 296-7. See +also M'Cullagh's _Commercial Dictionary_, where he speaks still more +decidedly, and Mr. Senior's _Political Economy_. Sydney Smith, who with +Mr. M'Cullagh was opposed to the penny-postage movement, was favourable +to the Government monopoly of the Post-Office. + +[204] These remarks must not be understood to apply to the _clerks_ in +the different branches of the London establishment. These clerks, &c., +who are required to be educated gentlemen, are as a rule, paid on lower +scales of salary than obtain, we believe, in the other Government +departments. + +[205] _Fraser's Magazine_, September, 1862, p. 536. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +APPENDIX (A). + +CHIEF OFFICERS OF THE POST-OFFICE + + +_ENGLAND._ + +_Her Majesty's Postmaster-General._ + +THE RIGHT HON. LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY. + + _Secretary_ JOHN TILLEY, ESQ. + + _Assistant Secretaries_ {FREDERIC HILL, ESQ. and + {FRANK IVES SCUDAMORE, ESQ. + + _Chief Clerk of the Secretary's Office_ RODIE PARKHURST, ESQ. + + _Chief Clerk of Foreign Business_ WILLIAM PAGE, ESQ. + + _Solicitor_ WM. HENRY ASHURST, ESQ. + + _Assistant Solicitor_ R. W. PEACOCK, ESQ. + + _Inspector-General of Mails_ EDWARD JOHN PAGE, ESQ. + + _Deputy Inspector-General of Mails_ JOHN WEST, ESQ. + + _Receiver and Accountant-General_ VACANT. + + _Controller of Circulation Department_ WILLIAM BOKENHAM, ESQ. + + _Deputy Controller_ _ditto_ THOMAS BOUCHER, ESQ. + + _Controller of Money-Order Office_ FRED. ROWLAND JACKSON, ESQ. + + _Controller of Post-Office Savings'_} + _Banks_ } GEORGE CHETWYND, ESQ. + + _Medical Officer_ WALLER LEWIS, ESQ. M.D. + +_Post-Office District Surveyors._ + + Northern District CHRIS. HODGSON, ESQ. Penrith. + + Southern District J. H. NEWMAN, ESQ. Dorking. + + Eastern District ANTHONY TROLLOPE, ESQ. Waltham Cross. + + Western District G. H. CRESSWELL, ESQ. Devonport. + + Derby District ERNEST MILLIKEN, ESQ. Derby. + + Manchester District WILLIAM GAY, ESQ. Altrincham. + + Shrewsbury District W. J. GODBY, ESQ. Shrewsbury. + + Gloucester District JOHN PATTEN GOOD, ESQ. London. + + Birmingham District A. M. CUNYNGHAME, ESQ. London. + + +_IRELAND._ + + _Secretary_ GUSTAVUS CHARLES CORNWALL, ESQ. + + _Accountant_ JOSEPH LONG, ESQ. + + _Controller of Sorting Office_ R. O. ANDERSON, ESQ. + + _Solicitor_ R. THOMPSON, ESQ. + + _Surveyors_ {H. JAMES, ESQ. Limerick, and + {W. BARNARD, ESQ. Dublin. + + +_SCOTLAND._ + + _Secretary_ FRANCIS ABBOTT, ESQ. + + _Accountant_ JOHN MARRABLE, ESQ. + + _Controller of Sorting Office_ T. B. LANG, ESQ. + + _Solicitor_ J. CAY, JUN. ESQ. + + _Surveyors_ {JOHN WARREN, ESQ. Aberdeen, and + {E. C. BURCKARDT, ESQ. Edinburgh. + + + + +APPENDIX (B). + +ABSTRACT OF THE PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS. + + "It may not be too much to say that half the people in this country + who use the Post-Office do not know clearly all the benefit they may + derive from it."--_Household Words_, 1856. + + +We have already directed the attention of those engaged in frequent +correspondence, especially with our colonies and foreign countries, to +the necessity of consulting the official books published for their +guidance. The following digest of Post Office regulations may, perhaps, +answer the ordinary requirements of the general reader. + + +THE LETTER-POST. + +As at present constituted, the British Post-Office has, with the few +exceptions noticed in our historical survey, an exclusive authority to +convey _letters_ within the United Kingdom. It is also required by law +to convey newspapers when the public choose to use the post for that +purpose. The Post-Office further undertakes the conveyance of books and +book-packets, and the remittance of small sums of money. Still more +recently, it has entered into competition with the banking interest of +the country: it now threatens a scheme which will compete with benefit +societies and insurance offices. It is only with regard to the carriage +of letters, however, that the Post-Office possesses any special +privileges, the other branches of its business being open to any person +or persons who may choose to undertake them. + +(_a_) The rates of postage on all letters passing through the +Post-Office are now regulated by weight,[206] irrespective of distance, +and (with some exceptions, which we will mention presently) altogether +irrespective of their contents. Letters weighing _less than four ounces_ +may be sent unpaid, but they will be charged double postage on delivery. +Letters may be sent insufficiently stamped, but that deficiency, +whatever it may be, will also be charged double postage on delivery. The +rate for letters is familiar to every reader. + +(_b_) All re-directed letters are liable to additional postage, but at +the _prepaid_, and not the unpaid rate. Thus, for a letter under half an +ounce, re-addressed from one post-town to another, additional postage, +to the amount of one penny, is levied. Re-directed letters, not +addressed to a fresh post-town, but to a place within the district +belonging to the same post-town to which they were originally sent, are +not charged with any additional postage, the first payment franking them +until they are delivered. Letters for officers in the army and navy, and +private soldiers and seamen employed on actual service, have their +letters re-addressed to them from place to place without any charge for +re-direction. + +(_c_) No letter, &c. can be forwarded through the post which is more +than two feet in length, breadth, or depth, nor any unpaid letter or +packet which weighs more than four ounces, unless three-quarters of the +postage due on it have been paid. The exceptions to this rule are-- + +1st. Packets sent to or received from places abroad. + +2d. Packets to or from any of the Government departments or public +officers. + +3d. Petitions or addresses to the Queen, whether directed to Her Majesty +or forwarded to any member of either House of Parliament. + +4th. Petitions to either House of Parliament. + +5th. Printed parliamentary proceedings. + +(_d_) Late letters, &c. are received till within five minutes of the +despatch of the mails, except where the Post-Office surveyor may deem a +longer interval necessary, and providing that this arrangement does not +necessitate any office being open after ten o'clock at night. In each +post-office window placards are exhibited showing the time up to which +such letters may be posted. + +No late letters can be forwarded by the mail preparing for despatch +unless prepaid in stamps, including the ordinary postage and the +late-letter fee. Government letters are an exception to this rule; they +may be posted, without extra fee, up to the latest moment. + +(_e_) Letters containing sharp instruments, knives, scissors, glass, &c. +are not allowed to circulate through the post, to the risk of damaging +the general correspondence. Such communications, when posted, are +detained and forwarded to the Metropolitan Office, where correspondence +is at once opened with the senders. + +Letters for the United Kingdom found to contain coin are only forwarded +to their destination under certain restrictions. Such letters, if not +registered, are at once treated as if they were, and charged on delivery +with a double registration-fee, or eightpence in addition to the +postage. + + +REGISTERED LETTERS. + +The registration-fee of fourpence, prepaid in stamps, will secure +careful treatment to any letter, newspaper, or book-packet addressed to +any part of the United Kingdom. Record is kept of all such letters +throughout their entire course. The registration of a packet makes its +transmission more secure, by rendering it practicable to trace it from +its receipt to its delivery. For a fee of sixpence letters may be +registered to any British colony, except Ascension, Vancouver's Island, +British Columbia, and Labuan, for which places they can only be +registered part of the way. Letters may be registered to several foreign +countries at varying rates. (_See British Postal Guide._) + +Every letter meant for registration should be presented at the +post-office window, or counter (as the case may be) and a receipt +obtained for it, and must on no account be dropped into the letterbox +among the ordinary letters. If, contrary to this rule, a letter marked +"registered" be found in the letter-box, addressed to the United +Kingdom, it will be charged an extra registration-fee of double the +ordinary fee, or one of eightpence instead of fourpence. + +The latest time for posting a registered letter on payment of the +ordinary fee is generally up to within half an hour of the closing of +the letter-box for that particular mail with which it will require to be +forwarded. A registered letter will be received at all head offices up +to the closing of the general letter-box, or until the office is closed +for the night, on payment of a late fee of fourpence in addition to the +ordinary registration fee. All fees, as well as postage, of registered +letters must be prepaid in stamps. A registered letter, when +re-directed, is liable to the same additional charge as if it were an +ordinary letter, the original register fee, however, sufficing until it +is delivered. + +By Act of Parliament, the Post-Office is not responsible for the +absolute security of registered letters, though every care and attention +are given to them. Each registered letter may be traced from hand to +hand, from posting to delivery, with unfailing accuracy, and there can +be no question as to the great security which is thus afforded. Any +officer who may neglect his duty with registered letters is called to +strict account, and, if the Postmaster-General should see fit, will be +required to make good any loss that may be sustained. In cases where +registered letters have been lost (in the proportion, it is said, of +about one in ninety thousand), or some abstraction of their contents, +the Department makes good the loss, if the fault is shown to rest with +the Post-Office, and if the sum lost be of moderate amount and the +sufferer a person not in affluent circumstances. + + +FOREIGN AND COLONIAL LETTER-POSTS. + +For information of the despatch of foreign and colonial mails; rates of +postage; and as to whether prepayment be optional or compulsory; see the +"British Postal Guide," published quarterly. + +Letters addressed to places abroad may be prepaid in this country either +in money or stamps, but such payment must be made either wholly in +stamps or wholly in money. The only exception to this rule is when the +rate of postage includes a fractional part of a penny, for which, of +course, there are no existing English stamps. + +With certain exceptions, the only admitted evidence of the prepayment of +a foreign letter is the mark agreed upon with the particular foreign +country or colony. + +When prepayment is _optional_, any outward letter (_e. g._ going abroad) +posted with an insufficient number of stamps is charged with the +deficient postage in addition, unless the letter has to go to Holland, +or to the United States, or to a country through France, in which case +it is treated as wholly unpaid, the postal conventions with these +countries not allowing the recognition of partial prepayment. When, +however, prepayment of the whole postage is _compulsory_, a letter, or +aught else posted with an insufficient number of stamps, is sent (by the +first post) to the Returned Letter Office. + +Letters for Russia and Poland are also treated as wholly unpaid, if the +full postage has not been paid in the first instance. + +Letters to or from Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, British West Indies +(except Turk's Island), Honduras, and St. Helena, posted wholly unpaid, +or paid less than one rate, are detained and returned to the writers for +postage. If the letters should be paid with one rate (paid for half an +ounce, for instance, when the letter weighs more than half an ounce), +they are forwarded (except in the case of New Zealand), charged with the +deficient postage and sixpence as a fine. Letters for New Zealand must +be fully prepaid. + +Letters for nearly all our remaining British colonies, if posted unpaid, +either wholly or in part, are, on delivery, charged sixpence each in +addition to the ordinary postage. + +Letters intended to be sent by private ship should, in all cases, have +the words "By private ship," or "By ship," distinctly written above the +address. The postage of letters forwarded by private ship is +sixpence--if the weight does not exceed half an ounce--and the postage +must generally be prepaid. Exception is made to most of our North +American and African colonies, to which places prepayment by private +ship is not compulsory. (See table in the _British Postal Guide_.) + +When the route by which a foreign or colonial letter is to go is not +marked on the letter, it will be sent by the principal or earliest +route. In some cases, the postage paid (provided it be by stamps) is +regarded as an indication of the wish of the sender, and the letters are +forwarded by the route for which the prepayment is sufficient. Thus, +letters for Holland, Denmark, Norway, &c. which, as a rule, are sent +_viâ_ Belgium, are sent _viâ_ France, if the prepayment be insufficient +for the former, but sufficient for the latter route. + +_North American and Indian Mails._--Letters for passengers on board the +Cunard mail packets for America touching at Queenstown, provided they be +addressed to the care of the officers in charge of the mails on board +such packets, _and be registered_, may be posted in any part of the +United Kingdom up to the time at which registered letters intended for +transmission to America by the same packets are received, and they will +be delivered on board the packets at Queenstown. + +Letters for passengers on board the Mediterranean packets about to sail +from Southampton for India, China, Australia, &c. and the Canadian mail +packets touching at Londonderry, may, under similar conditions, be +posted up to the same time as registered letters for India and Canada. + +The letters should be addressed thus: "Mr. ----, on board the mail +packet at Queenstown, Londonderry, or Southampton (as the case may be), +care of the officer in charge of the mails." + +Letters directed to the care of the packet agent at Suez, and despatched +by the Indian mails _viâ Marseilles_, which always leaves after the +mails _viâ Southampton_, will most probably there reach passengers for +India, &c. who may have previously sailed in the Southampton packets. + + +NEWSPAPER POSTS. + +(_a_) It is not compulsory to send newspapers through the post. + +(_b_) The rate for newspapers stamped with the _impressed_ stamp is one +penny for two sheets, three-halfpence for three sheets, and twopence for +four sheets, of printed matter. + +(_c_) No newspaper, or other publication, can pass through the post, +unless the impressed stamp be of the value of at least one penny. + +(_d_) The title and date of every publication so passing must be printed +at the top of every page. + +(_e_) The impressed stamp (or stamps, if more than one publication be +sent under one cover) must be distinctly visible on the outside. When a +newspaper is folded so as not to expose the stamp, a fine of one penny +is made in addition to the proper postage of the paper. + +(_f_) The publication must not be printed on pasteboard or cardboard, +but on ordinary paper, nor must it be enclosed in a cover of either +material. + +(_g_) Newspapers bearing the impressed stamp cannot circulate through +the post after they are _fifteen days old_. + +(_h_) They must not contain any enclosure, and must either have no cover +at all, or one which shall be open at both ends. They must have no +writing either inside or outside, except the name of the persons to whom +they are sent, the printed title of the publications, and the printed +names of the publishers or agents sending them. If one of these +newspapers be addressed to a second person, the address in the first +instance still remaining, it is regarded as an infringement of the above +rule, and renders the paper liable to be charged as an unpaid letter. + +(_i_) In order that newspapers may be sent abroad, the publishers must +first have had them registered at the General Post-Office. + +(_j_) Newspapers intended for transmission to our colonies or foreign +countries must, in all cases, be prepaid _with postage-stamps_, the +impressed stamp here, in all respects, standing for nothing. Though this +is the case, all newspapers sent abroad are liable to the same +regulations as English newspapers bearing impressed stamps. + +(_k_) It must be borne in mind, that the arrangements for inland +newspapers forwarded under the book-post regulations, and paid with the +ordinary postage-stamp, are entirely distinct from the above. + + +PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. + +(_a_) Printed proceedings of the British Parliament are forwarded +through the Post-Office at a special rate, and possess privileges in +their transmission not belonging to either the newspaper- or +book-postage. Parliamentary proceedings, however, may pass through the +post at either the special rate, the newspaper rate, or book-post rate, +always provided that the conditions of the particular rate chosen be +complied with. + +(_b_) "Parliamentary proceedings," if these words are written or +printed on the cover (otherwise they are liable to be charged letter +rate), may circulate through the United Kingdom at the following rates +of postage:-- + + Weighing not more than 4 oz. 1_d._ + Weighing more than 4 oz. and not exceeding 8 oz. 2_d._ + " 8 oz. " 12 oz. 3_d._ + " 12 oz. " 16 oz. 4_d._ + +and so on; one penny being charged for every additional _quarter_ of a +pound or fraction of a quarter of a pound. + +(_c_) Prepayment of parliamentary proceedings is _optional_ throughout +the United Kingdom. Prepayment may also be made in part, when the +_simple difference only_ will be charged on delivery. + +Parliamentary proceedings can only be sent to the colonies or foreign +countries by means of the book-post system, and, of course, only where +book-posts are established. + + +THE BOOK-POST. + +(_a_) Written or printed matter of any kind--including matter which may +be sent by the ordinary newspaper-post, or under the special privileges +of parliamentary proceedings--may be sent through the book-post under +the following rates and conditions:-- + +(_b_) + + A packet weighing not more than 4 oz. 1_d._ + " more than 4 oz. but not exceeding 8 oz. 2_d._ + " more than 8 oz. " 1 lb. 4_d._ + " more than 1 lb. " 1½ lb. 6_d._ + " more than 1½ lb. " 2 lb. 8_d._ + +and so on; twopence being charged for every additional _half-pound_ or +fraction of a half-pound. + +(_c_) The postage on book-packets must be prepaid, and that by +postage-stamps affixed outside the packets or their covers. If a +book-packet should be posted insufficiently prepaid, it is forwarded, +charged with the deficient book postage together with an additional +rate; thus, one weighing over four ounces and only bearing one penny +stamp, would be charged twopence additional postage on delivery. If a +book-packet is posted bearing no stamps at all, it is charged as an +_unpaid letter_. + +(_d_) In cases where a book-packet is re-directed from one to another +postal district in the United Kingdom, the same charge is made on +delivery as was originally made for the postage, one penny for four +ounces, twopence for a packet under eight ounces, and so on. + +(_e_) Every book-packet must be sent either without a cover, or with one +open at the ends or sides, in order that the contents may be examined if +it be thought necessary. For greater security, it may be tied round the +ends with string, though each postmaster is empowered to remove it for +the purpose of examining the packet. He will re-secure it, however, +after examination. As a security against fraud, it has been found +necessary to adopt precautionary measures with book-packets and +newspapers: it has been demonstrated over and over again that many +people will evade the Post-Office charges, cheap as they now are, if it +be possible to do so.[207] When any head postmaster has grounds for +suspecting an infringement of the rules of the book-post, and +occasionally when he has no suspicion, he is required to open and +examine packets passing through his office, in order to assure himself +that the privileges of the book-post are being legitimately used. + +(_f_) A book-packet may contain any number of separate books or other +publications (including printed or lithographed letters), photographs +(when not on glass or in cases containing glass), prints, maps, or any +quantity or quality of paper, parchment, or vellum. The whole of this +description of paper, books, and other publications, may either be +printed, written, engraved, lithographed, or plain, or the packet may +consist of a mixture of any or all these varieties. The binding, +mounting, or covering of books and rollers, &c. in the case of prints or +maps, are allowed. In short, whatever usually appertains to the sort +of articles described, or whatever is necessary for their safe +transmission, may be forwarded through the post at the same rate +charged for the articles themselves. + +(_g_) Among the general restrictions, we find the following:-- + + No book-packet must exceed two feet in length, width, or depth. + + No book-packet must contain anything inclosed which is sealed + against inspection, nor must there be any letter inclosed, or + anything in the way of writing in the packet of the nature of a + communication, either separate or otherwise. Entries on the first + page of a book, merely stating who sends it, are allowable (and even + desirable in case of failure of delivery) inasmuch as they are not + regarded as of the nature of a letter. + + Any packets found with a communication written in it (if the + communication in question cannot be taken out, but forms a component + part of the packet) will be charged with the _unpaid letter + postage_, and then sent forward. + + If a packet be found containing an enclosure, whether sealed or + otherwise, or anything of the shape of a letter, such enclosure or + letter will be taken out and forwarded separately to the address + given on the packet. It is sent forward, of course, as an unpaid + letter, but, in addition, another single rate is charged. Thus, if + the article taken out of the packet does not exceed half an ounce in + weight, the charge of threepence will be levied on delivery, while + the remainder of the packet, if prepaid, will be delivered free at + the same time. + +(_h_) And lastly. The conveyance of letters being the main business of +the Post-Office, the authorities make distinct stipulations that +book-packets and newspapers must not interfere with the quick and +regular conveyance and delivery of letters. Though it is believed to be +of very rare occurrence, head postmasters are authorized to delay +forwarding any book-packet or newspaper for a period not exceeding +twenty-four hours beyond the ordinary time, if the other interests of +their office demands it. + + +THE PATTERN-POST. + +Arrangements for an inland pattern-post, such as has been in existence +for a short time between this country and France, for the conveyance of +_patterns_, have just been made. The pattern-post is now in operation, +and must prove beneficial to those engaged in mercantile pursuits. + +(_a_) At present, parcels of patterns may be forwarded through the post, +subject to the undermentioned regulations, at the following fixed rates, +prepaid with stamps, viz.:-- + + For a packet weighing under 4 oz. 3_d._ + " above 4 oz. and not exceeding 8 oz. 6_d._ + " above 8 oz. " 1 lb. 1_s._ 0_d._ + " above 1 lb. " 1½ lb. 1_s._ 6_d._ + +and so on; threepence being charged for every additional four ounces. + +(_b_) The pattern must not be of intrinsic value. All articles of a +saleable nature, wearing apparel, medicine, &c. or anything which may +have a value of its own and not necessarily a money value, are excluded +by this rule. + +(_c_) The patterns-packet must not contain any writing inside, except +the address of the manufacturer or trademark, the numbers, or the prices +of the articles sent. + +(_d_) The patterns must be sent in covers open at the ends or sides, in +the same way as book-packets, so as to admit of easy and thorough +examination. Samples of seeds, drugs, and other things of that +character, which cannot be sent in open covers, may be inclosed in bags +of linen, paper, or other material, tied at the neck with string. If +transparent bags are used, as in France, the articles may easily be +seen; but even then the bags must not be tied so that they cannot easily +be opened in their passage through the post. + +(_e_) Articles such as the following are prohibited by this new post, +and few of them can be sent even at the letter-rate of postage, viz. +metal boxes, porcelain or china, fruit, vegetables, bunches of flowers, +cuttings of plants, knives, scissors, needles, pins, pieces of watch or +other machinery, sharp-pointed instruments, samples of metals or ores, +samples in glass bottles, pieces of glass, acids, &c., copper or +steel-engraving plates, or confectionary of all kinds. In almost all +these cases, the contents of a letter-bag would be in danger of being +damaged or spoiled. + + +MONEY-ORDERS. + +(_a_) Inland money-orders are obtainable at any of the offices of the +United Kingdom on payment of the following commission:-- + + On sums not exceeding 2_l._ for 3_d._ + Above 2_l._ and not exceeding 5_l._ " 6_d._ + Above 5_l._ " 7_l._ " 9_d._ + Above 7_l._ " 10_l._ " 1_s._ 0_d._ + +The commission on money-orders made payable in any of the British +Colonies where money-order business is transacted is _four times_ the +sum charged for inland orders, except at Gibraltar and Malta, where the +commission is only three times the British rate. + +(_b_) The amount of any one money-order cannot exceed 10_l._, nor less +than 1_d._ No order is allowed to contain a fractional part of a penny. + +(_c_) Applications for a money-order should always be made in writing. +"Application Forms" are supplied gratuitously at all money-order +offices. The surname, and, at least, the initial of one Christian name +of both the person who sends the order, and the person to whom the money +is to be paid, must always be given. The address of the remitter of the +money should also be given. The following exceptions are allowed to the +above rule:-- + + (1) If the remitter or payee be a peer or bishop, his ordinary title + is sufficient. + + (2) If a firm, the usual designation will suffice--if that + designation consist of names of persons, and not of a company + trading under a title. + + (3) Money-orders sent to the Privy Council may be issued payable to + "The Privy Council Office." + + (4) When the remitter notifies that the order is to be paid through + a bank, he may withhold the name of the person for whom it is + intended if he chooses; or he may, if he wishes, substitute a + designation instead of a person's name; as, for example, he may make + an order payable, through a bank, to "The Cashier of the Bank of + England," or "The Publisher of _The Times_." + +(_d_) A money-order is always issued on the _head_ office of any town +where there are several money-order offices, except the persons sending +it request that it should be made out for some other subordinate office. + +(_e_) The sender of any money-order may make his order payable ten days +after date, by simply signing a requisition at the foot of the order to +that effect, and affixing a penny receipt-stamp to his signature. + +(_f_) An order once made out cannot be cancelled by the officer issuing +it under any circumstances. If the sender should require to transmit it +to a different town than the one he first mentioned, or to a +different name, he must apply to the issuing postmaster, and make the +necessary application on the proper form which will be furnished to +him. Directions on all these subjects are printed on the back of +money-orders. + +(_g_) When an order is presented for payment (not through a bank), the +postmaster is required to see that the signature on the order is +identical with the name to which he is advised to pay the money, and +that the name be given as full in the one case as it is in the other. If +this is so, the person presenting the order is required to state the +name of the party sending it, and should the reply be correct, the order +is paid, unless the postmaster shall have good reason for believing that +the applicant is neither the rightful claimant, nor deputed by him. If +presented through a bank, however, it is sufficient that the order be +receipted by some name, and that (crossed with the name of the receiving +bank) it be presented by some person known to be in the employment of +the bank. The owner of a money-order is always at liberty to direct, by +crossing it, that an order be paid through a bank, though the sender +should not make it so payable. The ordinary questions are then dispensed +with. + +(_h_) Money-orders, when paid, do not require a receipt-stamp. + +(_i_) Under no circumstance can payment of an order be made on the day +on which it has been issued. + +(_j_) After once paying a money-order, by whomsoever presented, the +Post-Office is not liable to any further claim. Every endeavour, it is +stated, will be made to pay the money to the proper party, or to some +one believed to be delegated by the proper party. + +(_k_) A money-order in the United Kingdom becomes _lapsed_, if it be not +presented for payment before the end of the second calendar month after +that in which it was issued (thus, if issued in January, it must be paid +before the end of March). A second commission for a new order will then, +after that time, be necessary. _Six_ months are allowed in the colonies. + +If the order be not paid before the end of the twelfth calendar month +after that in which it was issued, all claim to the money is lost.[208] + +(_l_) In case of the miscarriage or loss of an inland money-order, a +duplicate is granted on a written application (enclosing the amount of a +second commission and the requisite particulars) to the Controller of +the Money-Order Office of England, Scotland, or Ireland (as the case may +be), where the original order was _issued_. If it be desired to stop +payment of an inland order, a similar application, with postage-stamps +to the amount of a second commission, must be made to the controller of +the money-order office in that part of the United Kingdom in which the +order is _payable_. All mistakes made in money-orders can only be +rectified in this manner by correspondence with the chief metropolitan +office and by payment of a second commission. Whenever the mistake is +attributable to the Post-Office, however, and a second commission is +rendered necessary, the officer in fault is called upon to pay it. + +Proper printed forms, moreover, are supplied for every case likely to +arise, and full instructions are given on money-orders. In addition, +however, to supplying the proper forms, the postmasters are required to +give every necessary information on the subject of second or duplicate +orders. + +(_m_) No money-order business is transacted at any post-office on +Sundays. On every lawful day, the time for issuing and paying +money-orders is from ten till four at the chief offices in London, +Edinburgh, and Dublin, and from nine till six at provincial offices. On +Saturday nights it is usual to allow two extra hours for this business. + + +POST-OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS. + +We have already explained at some length the origin and ordinary working +of these banks; the following _résumé_ of the distinctive features of +the new plan may therefore suffice:-- + + (_a_) Nearly all the money-order offices in the United Kingdom are + now open each working-day for the receipt and payment of + savings-bank accounts. + + (_b_) Deposits of one shilling, or any number of shillings, will be + received, provided the total amount of deposits in any one year does + not exceed 30_l._, or the total amount standing in one name does not + exceed, exclusive of interest, 150_l._ + + (_c_) Each depositor, on making the first payment, must give every + necessary particular regarding himself, and sign a declaration. He + will then receive a book (gratis) in which all entries of payments + and withdrawals will be regularly made by an officer of the + Post-Office. + + (_d_) Interest at the rate of 2_l._ 10_s._ per cent. is given on all + money deposited. + + (_e_) Secrecy is observed with respect to the names of depositors in + post-office banks, and the amounts of their deposits. + + (_f_) Depositors have direct Government security for the prompt + repayment, with interest, of all their money. + + (_g_) Married women may deposit money in these banks, and money so + deposited will be paid to the _depositor_, unless her husband give + notice of marriage, in writing, and claim payment of the deposits. + + (_h_) Money may also be deposited by, or in behalf of, minors. + Unlike some ordinary savings-bank, depositors over seven years of + age are treated here as persons of full age, though minors under + seven cannot withdraw, or have drawn, their deposits until they + attain that age. + + (_i_) Charitable societies and penny-banks may deposit their funds + in the Post-Office banks, but a copy of their rules must, in the + first instance, be sent to the Postmaster-General. Special aid is + given to penny-banks established in connexion with those of the + Post-Office. + + (_j_) Friendly societies, duly certified by the Registrar of these + societies, may also deposit their funds, without limitation or + amount, under the same condition. + + (_k_) A depositor in an old savings-bank may have his money + transferred to the Post-Office banks with the greatest ease. He has + only to apply to the trustees of the old savings-bank for a + certificate of transfer (in the form prescribed by the Act of + Parliament regulating the transactions of these banks, viz. 24 Vict. + cap. 14), and he can then offer the certificate to the Post-Office + bank, and it will be received as if it were a cheque. Of course he + can draw out from one bank and pay into the other in the usual way, + but the transfer certificate will save him both trouble and risk. + + (_l_) A depositor in any one of the Post-Office savings-banks may + continue his payments in any other bank at pleasure without notice + or change of book. The same facilities of withdrawal, as we have + previously shown, are also extended to him. + + (_m_) Additional information may be obtained at any post-office, or + by application to the Controller, Savings-Bank Department, General + Post-Office, London. All applications of this kind, or any letters + on the business of the savings-banks, as well as the replies + thereto, pass and repass free of postage. + + +MISCELLANEOUS REGULATIONS. + +1. Petitions and addresses to Her Majesty, or to members of either House +of Parliament, forwarded for presentation to either House, may be sent +_free_, provided that they do not weigh more than two pounds, and are +either without covers, or enclosed in covers open at the ends or sides. +They must not contain any writing of the nature of a letter, and if, +upon examination, anything of the kind be found, the packet is liable to +be charged under the book-post arrangement. + +2. Letters on the business of the Post-Office, relating to any of its +numerous branches, may be forwarded to the head offices of London, +Edinburgh, or Dublin, by the public, free of all postage. Letters for +the different departments of the Government in London may be prepaid, or +otherwise, at the option of the sender. + +3. Letters addressed by the public to the district surveyors of the +Post-Office, on postal business, may also be sent without postage, +though all letters addressed to local postmasters should be prepaid by +stamps. + +4. It is absolutely forbidden that information respecting letters +passing through the Post-Office should be given to any persons except +those to whom such letters are addressed. Post-Office officials are +strictly prohibited from making known official information of a private +character, or, in fact, any information on the private affairs of any +person which may be gathered from their correspondence. + +5. Letters once posted cannot be returned to the writers under any +pretence whatever--not even to alter the address, or even the name, on a +letter. Further, postmasters have not the power to _delay forwarding_, +according to the address, any letter, even though a request to that +effect be made on the envelope, or to them personally, either orally or +in writing. Each letter, put into the Post-Office, is forwarded, +according to its address, by the _first mail_ leaving the place, unless, +indeed, it be posted "too late," when it is not forwarded till the next +succeeding mail. + +6. Each postmaster is required to display a notice in the most +conspicuous position in his office, giving every necessary information +respecting the time of despatch and receipt of mails, delivery of +letters, hours of attendance, &c. &c. + +7. On Sundays there is usually but one delivery of letters, viz. in the +morning, and two hours are allowed during which the public may purchase +postage-stamps, have letters registered, or pay foreign and colonial +letters, &c.; but for the rest of the day all other duties, so far as +the public are concerned, are wholly suspended. In the General +Post-Office in London no attendance is given to the public. In all the +towns of Scotland, and also in one or two towns in England, no delivery +of letters takes place from door to door, but the public may have them +by applying during the time fixed for attendance at the post-office. + +8. In England and Ireland, where, as a rule, letters are delivered on +Sunday mornings, arrangements are made under which any person may have +his letters kept at the post-office till Monday morning by simply +addressing a written request to the postmaster to that effect. Of +course, all the correspondence for such applicant is kept, even +supposing some of it should be marked "immediate;" and no distinction +is allowed. Letters directed to be kept at the post-office in this way +cannot be delivered from the post-office window, except in the case of +holders of private boxes, who may either call for their letters or not, +as they may think proper. Instructions sent to the postmasters of towns +under this arrangement are binding for three months, nor can a request +for a change be granted without a week's notice. + +9. Any resident, in town or country, can have a private box at the +post-office on payment of an appointed fee. That fee is generally fixed +at a guinea per annum, payable in advance, and for a period of not less +than a year. Private bags in addition are charged an extra sum. + +10. "No postmaster is bound to give _change_, or is authorized to demand +change; and when money is paid at a post-office, whether in change or +otherwise, no question as to its right amount, goodness, or weight, can +be entertained after it has left the counter." + +11. Except in the case of foreign or colonial letters about to be +prepaid in money, a postmaster or his clerks are not bound to weigh +letters for the public, though they may do so provided their other +duties will allow of it. + +12. Postage-stamps or stamped envelopes (the latter to be had in packets +or parts of packets, and charged at an uniform rate, viz. 2_s._ and +3_d._ for a packet of twenty-four envelopes) may be obtained at any +post-office in the United Kingdom at any time during which the office is +open--in most cases, from 7 or 7.30 A.M. till 10 P.M. + +13. A licence to sell postage-stamps can be obtained, free of expense, +by any respectable person, on application to the office of Inland +Revenue, Somerset House, London, or (in the provinces) by application to +the district stamp distributor. + +14. Every rural messenger is authorized to sell stamps and embossed +envelopes at the same price at which postmasters sell them; and when, in +the country, the rural postman is applied to for these articles, he must +either supply them, or (if he has none in his possession) must take +letters with the postage in money, and carefully affix stamps to them +when he arrives at the end of his journey. + +15. Each postmaster is authorized to purchase postage-stamps from the +public, if not soiled or otherwise damaged, at a fixed charge of 2½ +per cent. Single stamps will not be received, but those offered must be +presented in strips containing at least two stamps adhering to each +other. This arrangement was fixed upon primarily in order to discourage +the transmission of coin by post. + +16. Letter-carriers and rural messengers are prohibited at any time from +distributing letters, newspapers, &c., except such as have passed +through the Post-Office. They are not allowed to receive any payment +beyond the unpaid postage on letters or newspapers delivered.[209] +Further, in delivering letters, they are not allowed to deviate from the +route laid down for them by the proper authorities. + +17. Persons living within the free delivery of any town cannot obtain +their letters at the post-office window, unless they rent a private box, +in which case they may apply for them as often as a mail arrives. In +some cases where there are not frequent deliveries of letters, persons +may apply at the post-office for their letters arriving by a particular +mail after which there is not an immediate delivery from door to door. + +18. Persons having a distinct residence in any town cannot have their +letters addressed to the post-office (except a private box be taken), +and a postmaster is warranted, when such letters arrive so addressed, to +send them out by the first delivery. The "Poste Restante" is meant for +commercial travellers, tourists, and persons without any settled +residence. Letters so addressed are kept in the office for one month, +after which, if they are not called for, they are returned to the +writers through the Dead-Letter Office. "Ship-letters" in sea-port +towns, or letters addressed to seamen on board ship expected to arrive +at these towns, are kept _three_ months before they are thus dealt with. + +19. When any letters, &c. remain undelivered, owing to the residences of +the persons to whom they are addressed not being known, a list of such +addresses is shown in the window of the post-office to which they may +have been sent, during the time (only _one week_ in these cases) they +are allowed to remain there. + +20. Greenwich time is kept at the Post-Office. + + +LONDON DISTRICT POSTS. + +1. The London district comprises all places within a circle of twelve +miles from St. Martin's-le-Grand, including Cheshunt, Hampton, Hampton +Court, Sunbury, and the post towns of Barnet, Waltham Cross, Romford, +Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, and Hounslow. + +2. There are ten postal districts, each of which is treated in many +respects as a separate post town. The names of the districts are as +follows, the initial letter or letters of the name forming the necessary +abbreviation to each, viz.:--East Central, West Central, Western, +South-Western, North-Western, Northern, North-Eastern, Eastern, +South-Eastern, and Southern. + +3. The portion of each district within three miles of the General +Post-Office is designated the Town Delivery. Within the town limits +there are eleven deliveries of letters daily, the first or principal +commencing at 7.30 and generally concluded by 9 A.M.; the last delivery +commences at 7.45 P.M.; there being something like hourly deliveries +within the interval. Each town delivery occupies on an average +forty-five minutes. There are seven despatches daily to the suburban +districts. + +4. As a general rule, the number of despatches from the suburban +districts is the same as the number of deliveries. + +5. Information relative to the time of delivery and the time for each +despatch to the head office, and also from thence to the provinces, is +afforded at each town and suburban receiving-house. At each of these +houses, several hundreds in number, stamps are sold, letters are +registered, and separate boxes are provided for "London District" and +"General Post" letters. + + +THE "POSTE RESTANTE" AT THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE. + +6. The "Poste Restante" arrangements for London are somewhat different +to those in the provinces; but like the latter they are meant to +provide for strangers and travellers who have no permanent abode in +London,--residents in London not being allowed the privilege. + +7. Letters addressed to "initials" cannot be received; if so addressed +they are returned to their writers through the Returned Letter-Office. + +8. Letters addressed "Post-Office, London," or "Poste Restante," are +delivered only at the Poste Restante Office, on the south side of the +hall of the General Post-Office, between the hours of 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. + +9. All persons applying for letters at the Poste Restante must be +prepared to give the necessary particulars to the clerk on duty, in +order to prevent mistakes, and to insure the delivery of the letters to +the persons to whom they properly belong. If the applicant be a subject +of the United Kingdom (and subjects of states not issuing passports are +regarded as British subjects), he must be able to state from what +place or district he expects letters, and produce some proof of +identification; and if he sends for his letters the messenger must be +supplied with this information, as well as show a written authority to +receive them. If the applicant be a foreigner, he must produce his +passport; or should he send for his letters, the messenger must take it +with him. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[206] The average weight of inland letters is now about a quarter of an +ounce; that of colonial letters about a third of an ounce; of a foreign +letter also about a quarter of an ounce. The average weight of +newspapers is about three ounces, and of book-packets ten ounces. + +[207] With charges extremely low, the Post-Office is victimized by all +kinds of craftiness. The dodging of the proper payment is sometimes +quite ludicrous. Hundreds of newspapers, for instance, are annually +caught (and we may reasonably assume that thousands more escape) with +short loving messages deftly inscribed between their paragraphs of type, +or letters, different descriptions of light articles, and even money +curiously imbedded in their folds. Almost everybody might tell of some +adventure of this kind in his experience not only before penny-postage, +but even after it. + +[208] Moneys accruing to the revenue from lapsed orders are allowed to +go into a fund for assisting officers of the Post-Office to pay their +premiums on life assurance policies. No officer, however, can be +assisted to pay for a policy exceeding 300_l._ + +[209] This prohibition does not extend to Christmas gratuities. + + + + +APPENDIX (C). + +INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE APPOINTMENTS IN THE POST-OFFICE SERVICE. + + +All candidates for appointment in the Post-Office, whether to places in +the gift of the Postmaster-General, or to those in provincial towns in +the gift of the respective postmasters, must pass the stipulated +examination prescribed by Government, and which is conducted under the +auspices of the Civil Service Commissioners in London. + +I. Candidates for clerkships in the Secretary's Office, London, must +pass an examination on the following subjects, viz.[210]:-- + + 1. Exercise designed to test handwriting and composition. + + 2. Arithmetic (higher branches, including vulgar and decimal + fractions). + + 3. Precis. + + 4. A Continental language, French or German, &c.[211] + +II. Candidates for general clerkships in the Metropolitan Offices are +examined in[210]-- + + 1. Writing from dictation. + + 2. Exercise to test orthography and composition. + + 3. Arithmetic (higher rules). + +III. Candidates for the place of letter-carrier, &c. + + 1. Writing from dictation. + + 2. Reading manuscript. + + 3. Arithmetic (elementary). + +All officers nominated to places in provincial offices must be +examined by the postmaster, under the auspices of the Civil Service +Commissioners, the examination-papers to be in all cases submitted to +the Commissioners for inspection and judgment. + +IV. For clerks, the examination consists in + + 1. Exercises designed to test handwriting and orthography. + + 2. Arithmetic. + +V. For sorters, letter-carriers, and stampers:-- + + 1. Writing from dictation. + + 2. Reading manuscript. + + 3. Arithmetic (of an easy kind). + +VI. For messengers:-- + + 1. Writing their names and addresses. + + 2. Reading the addresses of letters. + + 3. Adding a few figures together. + +No person under sixteen years of age is eligible for any situation in +the Post-Office. + +Candidates for clerkships in London must be under twenty-four years of +age but not under seventeen. The stipulated age in the country is from +seventeen to twenty-eight. + +No one is eligible for an appointment who has been dismissed the Civil +Service. + +No one is eligible who is connected, directly or indirectly, with the +management of an inn or public-house. + +Sorters, stampers, or railway messengers must not be under 5ft. 3in. +high in their stockings. + +All officers appointed to the London Office must pass a medical +examination before the medical officer of the Department. A special +examination after probation is required from those appointed to the +travelling post-offices. In the country, candidates must provide a +medical certificate to the effect that they enjoy good health. + +Sorters and letter-carriers may be promoted to clerkships. + +Persons of either sex are eligible for appointment in provincial +offices. + +Letter-carriers are provided with uniforms. + +Post-office officials are assisted, at the rate of about 20 per cent. in +payment of premiums for life assurance. They are also entitled to +superannuation allowance, according to their length of service. Clerks +in the General Post-Office are allowed a month's, and sorters, +letter-carriers, &c., a fortnight's, leave of absence each year. + +Clerks, sorters, &c. in the provinces are allowed leave of absence for a +fortnight in each year. + +Postmasters in the country and officers in the General Post-Offices must +give security to the Postmaster-General for the faithful discharge of +their duties, in amounts calculated according to the responsible nature +of the appointment. A guarantee office[212] or two sureties are taken. + +The clerks, &c. in the country offices are required to give security in +the same manner to the postmasters who may have appointed them. + +After the preliminary examinations have been passed successfully, each +new officer, before commencing duty, is required to make a declaration +before a magistrate, to the effect that he will not open, or delay, or +cause or suffer to be delayed, any letter or packet to which he may have +access. He is then put on _probation_ for a term of six months, after +which period, if able to perform all the duties required of him, he +receives a permanent appointment. + +Promotion from class to class in the Post-Office is now, as a rule, +regulated by seniority of service--a much more satisfactory arrangement +to the whole body of officers than the system of promotion by merit +which it has just superseded. + +Heads of departments, postmasters, and all other officers employed in +the Post-Office, are prohibited by law, under heavy penalties, from +voting or interfering in elections for members of parliament. + +No officer of the Post-Office can be _compelled_ to serve as mayor, +sheriff, common councilman, or in any public office, either corporate or +parochial; nor can he be compelled to serve as a juror or in the +militia. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[210] This examination is for third-class clerks only. Vacancies are +filled up in the first and second classes from the third without any +further examination. + +[211] Clerks in the Solicitor's Office are examined also in +conveyancing, and in the general principles of equity and common law. + +[212] A Post-Office Mutual Guarantee Fund, suggested by Mr. Banning, the +postmaster of Liverpool, is in active operation in London, and deserves +mention. By means of this fund many officers of the Post-Office have +been relieved from the necessity of providing personal securities, or of +paying yearly sums to some guarantee office. Any clerk in London who may +wish to join _deposits_ the sum of 10_s._, and letter-carriers 5_s._ +These deposits are invested in the name of trustees in Government +securities. There are at present nearly 3,000 subscribers, with an +invested capital of 900_l._ Last year there were no demands at all on +the fund except payments to members leaving the service, who not only +draw out their original deposits, but are entitled to receive back a +proportionate amount of interest after defaults have been paid. + + + + +APPENDIX (D). + +APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICE IN LONDON. (_Extracted from the +Estimates of 1864-5._) + + +In all cases marked thus * the present holders of office, or some of +them, receive additional allowances, either on account of length of +service, compensation, as paid on some previous _scale_ of salary, or +for extra work. + + ----------+----------------------+------------------------------------- + _Number_ | | _Salary of Office._ + _of_ | _Designation._ +-----------+------------+------------ + _Persons._| | _Minimum | _Annual | _Maximum + | |per Annum._|Increment._ |per Annum._ + ----------+----------------------+-----------+------------+------------ + | | £ | £ _s._ | £ + 1 | Postmaster-General | -- | -- | 2,500 + 1 | Secretary | 1,500 |after 5 yrs | 2,000 + 2 | Assistant | 700 | 50 0 | 1,000 + | Secretaries* | | | + | | | | + |_Secretary's Office._ | | | + | | | | + 1 | Chief Clerk | 600 | 25 0 | 800 + |{Principal Clerk } | | | + 1 |{for Foreign and } | 600 | 25 0 | 800 + |{Colonial Business*} | | | + 11 | First-class Clerks:--| | | + | 4 First Section | 500 | 25 0 | 600 + | 7 Second Section* | 400 | 20 0 | 500 + 4 | Senior Clerks | -- | -- | 440 + 19 | Second-class Clerks* | 260 | 15 0 | 380 + 16 | Third-class Clerks | 120 | 10 0 | 240 + 11 | Supplementary Clerks | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + 10 | Probationary Clerks | | | + | at 5_s._ a day | | | + | | | | + |_Solicitor's Office._ | | | + 1 | Solicitor | -- | -- | 1,500 + 1 | Assistant Solicitor | -- | -- | 800 + 1 | Second-class Clerk | 260 | 15 0 | 380 + 2 | Third-class Clerks | 120 | 10 0 | 240 + 1 | Fourth-class Clerk | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + | | | | + | _Mail Office._ | | | + | | | | + 1 | Inspector-General* | 600 | 25 0 | 800 + 1 | Deputy | | | + | Inspector-General | 500 | 20 0 | 600 + 1 |{Principal Clerk of } | 400 | 20 0 | 500 + |{ Stationary Branch} | | | + | | | | + 1 |{Principal Clerk of } | 350 | 20 0 | 450 + |{ Travelling Branch} | | | + | | | | + 3 | First-class Clerks | 260 | 10 0 | 350 + 6 | Second-class Clerks* | 180 | 7 10 | 240 + 12 | Third-class Clerks | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + 5 | Inspectors of Mails | 300 | 20 0 | 500 + | Allowance of 15_s._| | | + | a day when | | | + | travelling. | | | + | | | | + | _Travelling | | | + | Post-Office._ | | | + | | | | + 8 | First-class Clerks | 260 | 10 0 | 350 + 15 | Second-class Clerks | 180 | 7 10 | 240 + 30 | Third-class Clerks | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + 141 | Sorters:-- | | | + | 10 First-class |40s. a wk. | 2 12 | 50s. a wk. + | 19 Second-class |32s. " | 2 12 | 38s. " + | 38 Third-class |25s. " | 2 12 | 30s. " + | 74 Fourth-class |18s. " | 2 12 | 25s. " + | Clerks in this | | | + | office are also | | | + | allowed travelling | | | + | allowances at the | | | + | rate of 5s. a | | | + | trip; sorters, 3s. | | | + | a trip | | | + | | | | + 1 |{Supervisor of Mails'}| | | + |{ Bag Apparatus }| -- | -- | 290 + | | | | + | _Receiver and | | | + | Accountant-General's | | | + | Office._ | | | + | | | | + 1 |{Receiver and }| 600 | 25 0 | 800 + |{ Accountant-General*}| | | + | | | | + 1 | Chief Examiner* | 475 | 20 0 | 575 + 1 | Cashier* | 475 | 20 0 | 575 + 1 |Principal Book-keeper*| 425 | 20 0 | 525 + 11 | First Class Clerks:--| | | + | 5 First Section | 310 | 15 0 | 400 + | 6 Second Section* | 260 | 10 0 | 350 + 17 | Second-class Clerks* | 180 | 7 10 | 240 + 22 | Third-class Clerks | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + | | | | + |_Money-Order Office._ | | | + | | | | + 1 | Controller* | 500 | 25 0 | 750 + 1 | Chief Clerk* | 400 | 20 0 | 550 + 1 | Examiner* | 375 | 15 0 | 450 + 1 | Book-keeper* | 375 | 15 0 | 450 + 13 | First-class Clerks:--| | | + | 4 First Section | 365 | 15 0 | 400 + | 9 Second Section | 260 | 10 0 | 350 + 52 | Second-class Clerks | 180 | 7 10 | 240 + 55 | Third-class Clerks | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + 6 | Probationary Clerks | | | + | 5_s._ per day | | | + | | | | + | _Circulation | | | + | Department._ | | | + | | | | + 1 | Controller* | 600 | 25 0 | 800 + 1 | Vice-Controller* | 500 | 20 0 | 600 + 3 | Sub-Controllers | 450 | 20 0 | 600 + 16 | Deputy Controllers | 350 | 15 0 | 500 + 40 | First-class Clerks* | 260 | 10 0 | 350 + 80 | Second-class Clerks* | 180 | 7 10 | 240 + 118 | Third-class Clerks* | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + | {First-class } | | | + 7 | { Inspectors of } | 210 | 10 0 | 300 + | { Letter-carriers } | | | + | | | | + 15 | Second-class ditto | 150 | 7 10 | 200 + 20 | Third-class ditto | 110 | 5 10 | 145 + 2,356 | Sorters, Messengers, | | | + | &c. viz.-- | | | + | Sorters: | | | + | 100 1st Class | 40s. a wk.| 2 12 | 50s. a wk. + | 450 2d Class | 24s. " | 2 12 | 38s. " + | Messengers: | | | + | 20 " | 21s. " | 2 12 | 40s. " + | Stampers 60 1st Class| 28s. " | 2 12 | 35s. " + | " 199 2d Class| 21s. " | 2 12 | 27s. " + | Letter-carriers: | | | + | 330 1st Class* | 26s. " | 2 12 | 30s. " + | 962 2d Class* | 20s. " | 2 12 | 25s. " + | | | | + | _Surveyors' | | | + | Department._ | | | + | | | | + 13 | Surveyors* | 500 | 25 0 | 700 + 32 | Surveyors' Clerks:-- | | | + | 13 First Class* | 300 | 20 0 | 400 + | 19 Second Class* | 200 | 10 0 | 300 + 13 | Stationary Clerks | 80 | 5 0 | 150 + ----------+----------------------+-----------+------------+------------ + +The surveyors have travelling allowances at the rate of 20_s._ per diem; +surveyors' clerks, 15_s._ per diem; clerks in charge, 10_s._ and 7_s._ +per diem. The whole are also allowed actual expenses of locomotion. + + +PRINCIPAL APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICES OF DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH. + +(_Extracted from the Estimates of 1864-5._) + + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + | | _Salary of Office._ + _Number| |-------------------------------- + of | _Designation _ | _Minimum | _Annual | _Maximum + Persons_| |per Annum_|Increment_|per Annum_ + --------|-----------------------------|----------|----------|---------- + | | | | + | _DUBLIN_ | £ | £ _s._ | £ + | | | | + 1 |Secretary | 700 | 50 0 | 1,000 + 1 |Chief Clerk | 500 | 20 0 | 600 + 2 |First-class Clerks | 300 | 15 0 | 400 + 4 |Second-class Clerks | 140 | 10 0 | 300 + 1 |Solicitor | -- | -- | 1,000 + 1 |Accountant* | 500 | 20 0 | 600 + 1 |Examiner* | 325 | 20 0 | 425 + 1 |Controller of Sorting Office | 400 | 20 0 | 500 + 4 |Deputy Controllers | 280 | 10 0 | 350 + | | | | + | _General Body of Clerks._ | | | + | | | | + 13 |First-class Clerks* | 200 | 10 0 | 300 + 39 |Second-class Clerks | 125 | 7 10 | 180 + 14 |Supplementary Clerks | 70 | 5 0 | 120 + 1 |Inspector of Letter-carriers | 125 | 7 10 | 200 + 1 |Medical Officer | -- | -- | 200 + | | | | + | _EDINBURGH._ | | | + | | | | + 1 |Secretary | 700 | 50 0 | 1,000 + 1 |Chief Clerk | 500 | 20 0 | 600 + 2 |First-class Clerks | 300 | 15 0 | 400 + 3 |Second-class Clerks | 140 | 10 0 | 300 + 1 |Solicitor | -- | -- | 400 + 1 |Accountant* | 500 | 20 0 | 600 + 1 |Examiner* | 325 | 20 0 | 425 + 1 |Controller of Sorting Office | 450 | 20 0 | 550 + 3 |Deputy Controllers | 280 | 10 0 | 350 + 1 |Inspector of Letter-carriers | 125 | 7 10 | 200 + 1 |Medical Officer | -- | -- | 150 + | | | | + | _General Body of Clerks._ | | | + | | | | + 12 |First-class Clerks | 200 | 10 0 | 300 + 30 |Second-class Clerks | 125 | 7 10 | 180 + 9 |Probationary Clerks, | | | + | 5s. a day | | | + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +APPOINTMENTS, WITH SALARIES, OF THE FIVE PRINCIPAL PROVINCIAL +ESTABLISHMENTS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. + +(_Extracted from the Estimates of 1864-5._) + + --------+---------------------+--------+---------------------------------- + Number | |Poundage| Salary of Office. + of |Designations. |allowed.|-----------+---------+------------ + Persons.| |[213] | Minimum |Annual | Maximum + | | |per Annum. |Increase |per Annum. + --------+---------------------+--------+-----------+---------+------------ + | | | | | + |_Liverpool Office._ | £ | £ | £ s. d.| £ + | | | | | + 1 |Postmaster | 730 | -- | -- | 1,000 + 1 |Chief Clerk | -- | 400 |20 0 0 | 500 + 2 |Principal Clerks | -- | 200 |10 0 0 | 300 + 1 |{Controller of} | -- | 300 |10 0 0 | 400 + |{Sorting Office} | | | | + 5 |Assistant Controllers| -- | 200 | 5 0 0 | 250 + 1 |{Inspector of } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers} | -- | 125 | 7 10 0 | 200 + 2 |Assistant Inspectors | -- | 80 | 5 0 0 | 120 + 8 |First-class Clerks | -- | 150 | 5 0 0 | 200 + 16 |Second-class Clerks | -- | 100 | 4 0 0 | 140 + 15 |Third-class Clerks | -- | 60 | 3 0 0 | 100 + 23 |First-class Sorters | -- |31s. a week| 2 12 0 |35s. a week. + 23 |Second-class Sorters | -- |26s. " | 2 12 0 |30s. " + 46 |Third-class Sorters | -- |22s. " | 1 6 0 |25s. " + 93 |Fourth-class Sorters | -- |18s. " | 1 6 0 |21s. " + |{Allowance to a } | -- | -- | -- |90l. a-year. + |{Medical Officer} | | | | + | | | | | + |_Manchester Office._ | | | | + | | | | | + 1 |Postmaster | 790 | -- | -- | 700 + 1 |Chief Clerk | -- | -- | -- | 450 + 5 |Principal Clerks | -- | 200 | 7 10 0 | 250 + 5 |First-class Clerks | -- | 150 | 5 0 0 | 200 + 10 |Second-class Clerks | -- | 100 | 5 0 0 | 150 + |Medical Officer | -- | -- | -- | 80 + 1 |{Inspector of } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers} | -- | 150 | 7 10 0 | 200 + 2 |Assistant ditto | -- | 80 | 5 0 0 | 120 + |Sorting Clerks:-- | | | | + 20 | First-class | -- |31s. a week| 3 18 0 |38s. a week. + 37 | Second-class | -- |21s. " | 2 12 0 |30s. " + 116 |Letter Carriers | -- |18s. " | 1 6 0 |23s. " + | | | | | + | _Glasgow Office._ | | | | + | | | | | + 1 |Postmaster | 673 | -- | -- | 700 + 1 |{Controller of } | | | | + |{Sorting Office} | -- | 200 |10 0 0 | 300 + 5 |First-class Clerks | -- | 150 | 5 0 0 | 200 + 5 |Second-class Clerks | -- | 100 | 4 0 0 | 140 + 10 |Supplementary Clerks | | 60 | 3 0 0 | 100 + 1 |{Inspector of } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers} | -- | 125 | 7 0 0 | 200 + |{Assistant } | | | | + 2 |{Inspectors of } | -- | 80 | 5 0 0 | 120 + |{Letter-carriers} | | | | + 10 |First-class Sorters | -- |31s. a week| 2 12 0 |35s. a week. + 24 |Second-class Sorters | -- |26s. " | 2 12 0 |30s. " + 29 |Third-class Sorters | -- |22s. " | 1 6 0 |25s. " + 66 |Fourth-class Sorters | -- |18s. " | 1 6 0 |21s. " + 97 |{Auxiliary } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers} | -- | -- | -- | 6s. " + |{Allowance to } | | | | + |{Medical Officer} | -- | -- | -- | 90 + | | | | | + |_Birmingham Office._ | | | | + | | | | | + 1 |Postmaster | 500 | -- | -- | 700 + 3 |Chief Clerks | -- | 150 | 5 0 0 | 230 + 2 |Clerks | -- | 150 | 5 0 0 | 200 + 12 |Ditto | -- | 60 | 5 0 0 | 140 + 1 |{Inspector of } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers} | -- | 125 | 7 10 0 | 180 + |{Assistant } | | | | + 1 |{Inspector of } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers } | -- | 80 | 5 0 0 | 120 + 25 |Sorters | -- |21s. a week| 2 10 0 |35s. a week. + 20 |{Third-class } | | | | + |{Letter-carriers} | -- |22s. " | 1 6 0 |25s. " + 48 |{Fourth-class } | -- |18s. " | 1 6 0 |21s. " + |{Letter-carriers} | | | | + 6 |{Temporary } | -- | -- | -- |18s. " + |{Letter-carriers} | | | | + 5 |Auxiliaries | -- | -- | -- |10s.6d. " + 1 |Medical Officer | -- | -- | -- |60l. a year. + | | | | | + | _Bristol Office._ | | | | + | | | | | + 1 |Postmaster | 325 | -- | -- | 600 + 1 |Chief Clerk | -- | 200 |10 0 0 | 300 + 2 |First-class Clerks | -- | 150 | 5 0 0 | 200 + 7 |Second-class Clerks | -- | 100 | 4 0 0 | 140 + 8 |{Supplementary} | -- | 60 | 3 0 0 | 100 + |{Clerks } | + 1 |{Inspector of } | | | | + |{Letter-Carriers} | -- | 110 | 5 0 0 | 140 + 9 |First-class Sorters | -- |27s. a week| 2 12 0 |33s. a week. + 12 |Second-class Sorters | -- |23s. " | 1 6 0 |26s. " + 10 |Third-class Sorters | -- |19s. " | 1 6 0 |22s. " + 24 |Fourth-class Sorters | -- |16s. " | 1 6 0 |18s. " + 28 |Auxiliaries | -- | -- | -- |10s. 6d. " + 1 |Medical Officer | -- | -- | -- |50l. a year. + --------+---------------------+--------+-----------+---------+------------ + + +INFORMATION RESPECTING OTHER PRINCIPAL PROVINCIAL POST OFFICES. + + ------------------+----------+--------+------+-----------+------------- + |Salary of |Poundage|Staff |Other |Total + Name of Town. |Postmaster|allowed.| of |Subordinate|Expenses of + | | |Clerks|Officers. |Establishment + | | | | |for 1864-5. + ------------------+----------+--------+------+-----------+------------- + | £ | £ | | | £ + Bath | 450 | 155 | 7 | 80 | 4,997 + Brighton | 500 | 210 | 8 | 36 | 3,357 + Birkenhead | 350 | 74 | 6 | 30 | 2,652 + Carlisle | 300 | 68 | 6 | 45 | 3,138 + Derby | 300 | 110 | 5 | 42 | 3,449 + Exeter | 500 | 145 | 13 | 104 | 6,185 + Gloucester | 300 | 72 | 6 | 29 | 2,404 + Hull | 450 | 200 | 15 | 63 | 4,887 + Leeds | 450 | 280 | 12 | 86 | 7,265 + Newcastle-on-Tyne| 450 | 240 | 9 | 54 | 4,318 + Norwich | 380 | 118 | 6 | 68 | 4,453 + Oxford | 331 | 72 | 8 | 23 | 2,362 + Plymouth | 332 | 105 | 6 | 37 | 2,648 + Portsmouth | 360 | 118 | 5 | 23 | 2,104 + Preston | 300 | 105 | 6 | 43 | 2,995 + Sheffield | 400 | 215 | 17 | 57 | 4,708 + Shrewsbury | 400 | 95 | 8 | 68 | 4,830 + Southampton | 450 | 160 | 8 | 52 | 4,415 + Worcester | 320 | 70 | 7 | 40 | 2,514 + York | 400 | 125 | 11 | 70 | 5,059 + | | | | | + Belfast | 340 | 116 | 6 | 47 | 3,407 + Cork | 340 | 105 | 6 | 39 | 2,719 + | | | | | + Aberdeen | 400 | 146 | 10 | 55 | 3,545 + Dundee | 230 | 109 | 5 | 30 | 2,038 + Greenock | 300 | 100 | 7 | 40 | 2,692 + ------------------+----------+--------+------+-----------+------------- + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[213] On the sale of postage-stamps. + + + + +APPENDIX (E). + +AMOUNT OF POSTAGE (including Postage-Stamps sold by the Post-Office and +by the Office of Inland Revenue) during the years 1861 and 1862 at those +Towns in the United Kingdom where the amount was largest. + + + +---------------------+------------- -+----------------+ + | | 1861 | 1862 | + +---------------------+------------- -+----------------+ + | | | | + | _ENGLAND._ | £ | £ | + | | | | + | Bath | 17,795 | 18,433 | + | Birmingham | 48,818 | 50,272 | + | Bradford, Yorkshire | 17,098 | 19,640 | + | Brighton | 21,945 | 22,579 | + | Bristol | 33,865 | 35,720 | + | Cheltenham | 11,834 | 12,315 | + | Exeter | 16,334 | 16,739 | + | Hull | 20,561 | 20,819 | + | Leeds | 30,641 | 32,736 | + | Leicester | 10,420 | 11,238 | + | Liverpool | 115,268 | 117,676 | + | London | 979,662[214] | 1,033,268[215] | + | Manchester | 102,263 | 98,650 | + | Newcastle-on-Tyne | 24,844 | 25,998 | + | Norwich | 12,740 | 12,997 | + | Nottingham | 12,237 | 13,376 | + | Plymouth | 11,520 | 11,493 | + | Sheffield | 20,364 | 21,188 | + | Southampton | 15,182 | 15,852 | + | York | 13,368 | 13,850 | + | | | | + | _IRELAND._ | | | + | | | | + | Belfast | 18,431 | 19,189 | + | Cork | 13,418 | 13,568 | + | Dublin | 67,458 | 65,199 | + | | | | + | _SCOTLAND._ | | | + | | | | + | Aberdeen | 15,283 | 16,326 | + | Edinburgh | 73,863 | 74,569 | + | Glasgow | 70,476 | 73,809 | + +---------------------+------------- -+----------------+ + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[214] Including £163,837 for postage charged on Public Departments. + +[215] Including £149,202 for postage charged on Public Departments. + + + + +APPENDIX (F). + + +CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY RAILWAY. + +(_Estimates_ 1863-4). + + _Conveyance of Mails by Railway _Amount required + in England and Wales, viz._:-- for_ 1864-5. + + £ + By the Birkenhead Railway 2,500 + " Bristol and Exeter 9,875 + " Chester and Holyhead 30,200 + " Cockermouth and Workington 104 + " Colne Valley 15 + " Cowes and Newport 23 + " Cornwall 5,500 + " Great Northern 9,877 + " Great Western 49,829 + " Great Eastern 21,367 + " Knighton 120 + " Lancaster and Carlisle 18,206 + " Lancashire and Yorkshire 6,900 + " Leominster and Kington 300 + " Llanelly 40 + " London, Brighton, and South Coast 1,890 + " London, Chatham, and Dover 94 + " London and North Western 82,416 + " London and South Western 21,620 + " Manchester and Altrincham 60 + " Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 2,600 + " Maryport and Carlisle 841 + " Midland 35,190 + " Monmouthshire 91 + " London, Tilbury, and Southend 25 + " North Eastern 39,177 + " North Staffordshire 712 + " North Union 4,878 + " Oystermouth 40 + " Oldham and Guide Bridge 20 + " Seaham and Sunderland 70 + " Shrewsbury and Hereford 2,031 + " Shrewsbury, Borth, &c. 2,180 + " Shropshire Union Railway 2,085 + " South Devon 7,479 + " South Eastern 23,635 + " South Staffordshire 45 + " South Yorkshire 18 + " Stockton and Darlington 1,311 + " Taff Vale 1,000 + " Tenbury 8 + " West Cornwall 1,500 + " West Hartlepool 17 + " Whitehaven Junction 364 + " Allowance for probable variation of Awards or + Agreements 19,313 + -------- + 405,566 + + The Irish Railway Service (the principal recipients being + the Great Southern and Western £30,982, Midland + and Great Western £15,208, Belfast and + Dublin Junction £5,917, Dublin and Drogheda, + £4,485) requires 86,833 + + The Scotch Railway Service (the principal items being the + Caledonian £28,497, the Scottish Central £13,068, + the Scottish North Eastern £12,000, and the + Great North of Scotland £7,584) requires 79,754 + -------- + Total for conveyance of Mails by Railway £564,102 + + + + +APPENDIX (G). + + +MANUFACTURE OF POSTAGE-LABELS AND ENVELOPES. + +(_From the Estimates of 1864-5._) + + --------+--------------------------------------------------+--------- + _Number | |_ Amount + of | |required + Persons | | for_ + | | 1864-5. + --------+--------------------------------------------------+--------- + | | £ + 1 | Controller | 500 + 1 | Assistant-Controller | 300 + 1 | Assistant-Superintendent of Postage Stamping | 200 + 1 | Clerk | 120 + 1 | Superintendent of Printing Label-stamps | 175 + 1 | " Perforating " | 100 + 1 | Foreman of Embossing Machines, 42_s._ per week | 109 + 1 | Packer, at 25_s._ per week | 65 + 3 | Tellers, from 18_s._ to 30_s._ per week | 211 + 6 | Assistant-Telling Boys, from 7_s._ to 12_s._ per | + | week | 127 + 24 | Boys for working Machines, from 4_s._ to 12_s._ | + | per week | 433 + | Allowance to the Accountant's Department for | + | keeping the Accounts, to the Receiver- | + | General's and to the Warehouse-keeper's | + | Departments | 1,050 + | | ------ + | Total Salaries, &c. | 3,390 + | | + | Poundage to Distributors and Sub-Distributors | 4,600 + | Paper for Labels and Envelopes, Printing | + | and Gumming Labels, and Folding and | + | Gumming Envelopes | 18,500 + | Postage and Carriage of Parcels | 450 + | Tradesmen's Bills | 400 + | Miscellaneous Expenses | 500 + | Estimate of additional expenditure for increase | + | of business | nil. + | | ------ + | Total amount required for the | + -- | Manufacture of Postage-Labels | + 41 | and Envelopes | 27,840 + --------+--------------------------------------------------+--------- + + + + +APPENDIX (H). + + +The following important document, published by Sir Rowland Hill on his +resignation of the Secretaryship of the Post-Office, and circulated +privately, is deserving of careful study, as giving the results of the +penny-postage reform up to the latest date:-- + + + RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM. + + Before stating the results of postal reform, it may be convenient + that I should briefly enumerate the more important organic + improvements effected. They are as follows:-- + + 1. A very large reduction in the rates of postage on all + correspondence, whether inland, foreign, or colonial. As instances + in point, it may be stated that letters are now conveyed from any + part of the United Kingdom to any other part--even from the Channel + Islands to the Shetland Isles--at one-fourth of the charge + previously levied on letters passing between post towns only a few + miles apart;[216] and that the rate formerly charged for this slight + distance, viz. fourpence--now suffices to carry a letter from any + part of the United Kingdom to any part of France, Algeria included. + + 2. The adoption of charge by weight, which, by abolishing the charge + for mere enclosures, in effect largely extended the reduction of + rates. + + 3. Arrangements which have led to the almost universal resort to + prepayment of correspondence, and that by means of stamps. + + 4. The simplification of the mechanism and accounts of the + Department generally by the above and other means. + + 5. The establishment of the book-post (including in its operation + all printed and much MS. matter) at very low rates, and its modified + extension to our colonies and to many foreign countries. + + 6. Increased security in the transmission of valuable letters + afforded, and temptation to the letter-carriers and others greatly + diminished, by reducing the registration fee from 1_s._ to 4_d._, by + making registration of letters containing coin compulsory, and by + other means. + + 7. A reduction to about one-third in the cost--including postage--of + money-orders, combined with a great extension and improvement of the + system. + + 8. More frequent and more rapid communication between the metropolis + and the larger provincial towns, as also between one provincial town + and another. + + 9. A vast extension of the rural distribution--many thousands of + places, and probably some millions of inhabitants, having, for the + first time, been included within the postal system. + + 10. A great extension of free deliveries. Before the adoption of + penny postage many considerable towns, and portions of nearly all + the larger towns, had either no delivery at all, or deliveries on + condition of an extra charge. + + 11. Greatly increased facilities afforded for the transmission of + foreign and colonial correspondence, by improved treaties with + foreign countries, by a better arrangement of the packet service, by + sorting on board, and other means. + + 12. A more prompt despatch of letters when posted, and a more prompt + delivery on arrival. + + 13. The division of London and its suburbs into ten postal + districts, by which, and other measures, communication within the + twelve-miles circle has been greatly facilitated, and the most + important delivery of the day has, generally speaking, been + accelerated as much as two hours. + + 14. Concurrently with these improvements, the condition of the + _employés_ has been materially improved; their labours, especially + on the Sunday, having been very generally reduced, their salaries + increased, their chances of promotion augmented, and other important + advantages afforded them. + + + RESULTS. + + My pamphlet on "Post-Office Reform" was written in the year 1836. + During the preceding twenty years, viz. from 1815 to 1835 inclusive, + _there was no increase whatever in the Post-Office revenue, whether + gross or net_, and therefore, in all probability, none in the number + of letters; and though there was a slight increase in the revenue, + and doubtless in the number of letters, between 1835 and the + establishment of penny postage early in 1840--an increase chiefly + due, in my opinion, to the adoption of part of my plan, viz. the + establishment of day mails to and from London--yet, during the whole + period of twenty-four years immediately preceding the adoption of + penny postage, the revenue, whether gross or net, and the number of + letters, were, in effect, stationary. + + Contrast with this the rate of increase under the new system, which + has been in operation during a period of about equal length. In the + first year of penny postage the letters more than doubled; and + though since then the increase has, of course, been less rapid, yet + it has been so steady that, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of + trade, every year, without exception, has shown a considerable + advance on the preceding year, and the first year's number is now + nearly quadrupled. As regards revenue, there was, of course, at + first a large falling off--about a million in gross, and still more + in net revenue. Since then, however, the revenue, whether gross or + net, has rapidly advanced, till now it even exceeds its former + amount, the rate of increase, both of letters and revenue, still + remaining undiminished. + + In short, a comparison of the year 1863 with 1838 (the last complete + year under the old system) shows that the number of chargeable + letters has risen from 76,000,000 to 642,000,000; and that the + revenue, at first so much impaired, has not only recovered its + original amount, but risen, the gross from 2,346,000_l._ to about + 3,870,000_l._ and the net from 1,660,000_l._ to about + 1,790,000_l._[217] + + The expectations I held out before the change were, that eventually, + under the operation of my plans, the number of letters would + increase fivefold, the gross revenue would be the same as before, + while the net revenue would sustain a loss of about 300,000_l._ The + preceding statement shows that the letters have increased, not + fivefold, but nearly eight and a half fold; that the gross revenue, + instead of remaining the same, has increased by about 1,500,000_l._; + while the net revenue, instead of falling 300,000_l._, has risen + more than 100,000_l._ + + While the revenue of the Post-Office has thus more than recovered + its former amount, the indirect benefit to the general revenue of + the country, arising from the greatly increased facilities afforded + to commercial transactions, though incapable of exact estimate, must + be very large. Perhaps it is not too much to assume that, all things + considered, the vast benefit of cheap, rapid, and extended postal + communication has been obtained, even as regards the past, without + fiscal loss. For the future, there must be a large and + ever-increasing gain. + + The indirect benefit referred to above is partly manifested in the + development of the money-order system, under which, since the year + 1839, the annual amount transmitted has risen from 313,000_l._ to + 16,494,000_l._--that is, fifty-two fold. + + An important collateral benefit of the new system is to be found in + the cessation of that contraband conveyance which once prevailed so + far that habitual breach of the postal law had become a thing of + course. + + It may be added, that the organization thus so greatly improved and + extended for postal purposes stands available for other objects, and + passing over minor matters, has already been applied with great + advantage to the new system of savings' banks. + + Lastly, the improvements briefly referred to above, with all their + commercial, educational, and social benefits, have now been adopted, + in greater or less degree--and that through the mere force of + example--by the whole civilized world. + + I cannot conclude this summary without gratefully acknowledging the + cordial co-operation and zealous aid afforded me in the discharge of + my arduous duties. I must especially refer to many among the + superior officers of the Department--men whose ability would do + credit to any service, and whose zeal could not be greater if their + object were private instead of public benefit. + + ROWLAND HILL. + + HAMPSTEAD, + _Feb. 23rd, 1864_. + + + R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, LONDON. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[216] When my plan was published, the lowest General Post rate was +fourpence; but while the plan was under the consideration of Government +the rate between post towns not more than eight miles asunder was +reduced from fourpence to twopence. + +[217] In this comparison of revenue, the mode of calculation in use +before the adoption of penny-postage has of course been retained--that +is to say, the cost of the packets on the one hand, and the produce of +the impressed newspaper stamps on the other, have been excluded. The +amounts for 1863 are, to some extent, estimated, the accounts not having +as yet been fully made up. + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + A missing reference to footnote [83] was inserted. + + The following is a list of changes made to the original. + The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one. + + been the permanent arrangements for the transmision of the + been the permanent arrangements for the transmission of the + + Nothwithstanding the losses he must have suffered + Notwithstanding the losses he must have suffered + + wafer or wax, or even if totally unfastened by either. "At + wafer or wax, or even if totally unfastened by either. At + + rusely no argument against a State monopoly of letter-carrying. + surely no argument against a State monopoly of letter-carrying. + + Rev. Sydn Smith, Mr. McCullagh. + Rev. Sydney Smith, Mr. McCullagh. + + it might be desirable, but impracticable" (10,939). "Most + it might be "desirable, but impracticable" (10,939). "Most + + offices; (3) a hourly delivery of letters instead of one every + offices; (3) an hourly delivery of letters instead of one every + + vender, and how trade--retail at any rate--is fostered by it. + vendor, and how trade--retail at any rate--is fostered by it. + + the parties concerned, but the depositor run the risk of + the parties concerned, but the depositor ran the risk of + + Thus, letters addressed to Newport should alway give the + Thus, letters addressed to Newport should always give the + + A singular accident befel one of these letter-boxes (1862) in Montrose. + A singular accident befell one of these letter-boxes (1862) in Montrose. + + every town and village in the kingdom, having any correpondence + every town and village in the kingdom, having any correspondence + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42129 *** |