Her Majesty's Mails
by William Lewins · English · Gutenberg #42129 · 744,260 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Her Majesty's Mails
Author: William Lewins
Release date: February 18, 2013 [eBook #42129]
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Language: English
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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 1
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