U 
 
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 REESE LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 J UN 14 1893 . , 8t) . 
 
HEE MAJESTY'S MAILS, 
 
LONDON t 
 
 CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, 
 BREAD STREET HILL. 
 

HER MAJESTY'S MAILS: 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE POST-OFFICE, 
 
 AND AN 
 
 INDUSTRIAL ACCOUNT OF ITS PRESENT CONDITION. 
 
 BY 
 
 WJLLIAM LEWINS, 
 
 OF THE GENEKAL POST-OFFICE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ENLARGED. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MAESTON, 
 
 MILTON HOUSE, LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 1865. 
 
 [The Right of Translation is reserved.} 
 
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 HENRY, LOED BKOUGHAM AND VAUX 
 
 ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 
 WHO 
 DURING AN UNUSUALLY LONG AND LABORIOUS LIFE 
 
 HAS EVER BEEN 
 THE EARNEST ELOQUENT AND SUCCESSFUL ADVOCATE 
 
 OF ALL KINDS 
 
 OF SOCIAL PROGRESS AND INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT 
 AND WHO FROM THE FIRST GAVE HIS MOST STRENUOUS 
 
 AND INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN PARLIAMENT 
 TOWARDS CARRYING THE MEASURE OF PENNY POSTAGE REFORM 
 
 IS BY PERMISSION DEDICATED 
 
 WITH FEELINGS OF DEEP ADMIRATION RESPECT 
 
 AND GRATITUDE 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
PBEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THE general interest taken in this work on its first appearance, 
 and the favourable reception accorded to it, has abundantly- 
 proved that many agreed with me in thinking that, in spite of 
 the world of books issuing from the press, there were still great 
 gaps in the "literature of social history," and that to some 
 extent my present venture was calculated to fill one of them. 
 That my critics have been most indulgent I have had more and 
 more reason to know as I have gone on with the revision of 
 the book. To make it less unworthy of the kind treatment it 
 received, I have taken this opportunity to re-write the principal 
 part of it, and to go over with extreme care and fidelity the 
 remaining portion. In addition to the ordinary sources of 
 information, of which I have made diligent and conscientious 
 use, I have been privileged to peruse the old records of the 
 Post-office, still carefully kept at St. Martin's-le-Grand. To any 
 one knowing the nature of these records, it is almost unneces- 
 sary to say that no materials could possibly be more useful in 
 correcting and elucidating if not even in enlivening the 
 present volume. I would, therefore, take this opportunity of 
 presenting my cordial thanks to the Secretary of the Post-office, 
 who, through the kind intervention of F. I. Scudamore, Esq. 
 allowed me to see these records, and gave me facilities for their 
 perusal. In addition, however, I have received much valuable 
 assistance from many gentlemen more or less connected with the 
 Post-office, all of whom have, with a heartiness and readiness 
 which I could not have credited had I not experienced it, 
 answered every inquiry which I found it necessary or desirable 
 to make. Much of this service is adverted to, and, I hope, 
 
viii Preface to the Second Edition. 
 
 properly acknowledged in different parts of the body of this 
 work, but my special acknowledgments are due, and are hereby 
 offered, to Sir Eowland Hill, who, when in a state of health 
 which must have rendered this service irksome, most kindly 
 pointed out to me several inaccuracies into which I had fallen, 
 and directed me to many sources of information which had been 
 heretofore either unknown to me or unavailable; to Edward 
 J. Page, Esq. my immediate official superior, whose assistance 
 and kindness in many ways deserve my heartiest thanks; to 
 OrnAmd Hill, Esq. the Assistant-Controller of the Stamp-office, 
 Somerset House, whose special services I have mentioned in 
 the chapter on Postage-stamps ; to Mr. J. Powell Williams, of 
 the General Post-office, who has supplied me with much useful 
 and interesting information ; and to many other gentlemen 
 connected with the General Post-offices of London and Edin- 
 burgh, who, though they may have done less than those named 
 above, have assisted me with great promptness and willingness. 
 
 It is most necessary that I should add, in view of the fact of 
 so many official gentlemen having, in their private capacity, 
 looked upon my effort with favour, that I am alone responsible 
 for the correctness of the subject-matter of this book, and for 
 every expression of opinion into which I may have been led. 
 Nor is the work now, any more than in its first form, in any 
 sense an authorized publication. Nor has any suggestion, even 
 the most remote, ever been made to me by those in authority 
 either to omit, alter, modify, or insert a word which I have 
 written. On the contrary, I have been most completely un- 
 fettered and unrestrained in everything I have said. I offer 
 this disclaimer not to those who know anything of the Post- 
 office service ; to these readers such an assurance will of course 
 be unnecessary and seem manifestly absurd ; but to those of my 
 critics who, otherwise kind, have erroneously concluded that I 
 have been compelled to view my subject through a strictly official 
 medium, and supposed that the writing of this book, which has 
 been the delight of my leisure hours, has formed a portion of 
 my official duty. 
 
 W. L. 
 
 May 2d, 1865. 
 
PBEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION. 
 
 THIS volume is the first of a contemplated series designed to 
 furnish some account of the history and ordinary working of 
 the three 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 pro- 
 fession 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 qua 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 
 Eeport. Subsequently, Mr. Edward Edwards, in the eighth 
 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, has supplied an ex- 
 cellent 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 
 
x Preface to the First Edition. 
 
 work is done more worthily. With regard to that most inter- 
 esting 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, and have engaged our special attention. 
 
 The greater portion of the second division of this volume, as 
 well as a small portion of the first part, appeared originally in 
 the pages of several popular serial publications principally 
 Chambers^ 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. Eobert 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 convey- 
 ances, 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 informa- 
 tion and assistance from Mr. J. Bowker, of the Eailway Post- 
 office, 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. 
 
 April 16^,1864. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAET I. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH POST-OFFICE. 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 PAGE 
 ON EARLY POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OUR POST COMMUNICATIONS PRIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 OF THE POST-OFFICE 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RISE OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE POST-OFFICES OF ENGLAND AND THE SISTER COUNTRIES 
 
 UP TO END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY .... 54 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 ON OLD ROADS AND SLOW COACHES 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 82 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RALPH ALLEN AND CROSS POSTS IN ENGLAND, AND JAMES 
 
 ANDERSON AND HORSE POSTS IN SCOTLAND. 1715 TO 1760 103 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PALMER AND THE MAIL-COACH ERA , 123 
 
xii , Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE 152 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SIR ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE 168 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EARLY RESULTS OF THE PENNY-POSTAGE SCHEME . . . . 197 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LETTER-OPENING COMMITTEE OF 1844, AND THE COM- 
 MISSION ON SUNDAY LABOUR AT THE POST-OFFICE IN 
 
 1849 . 214 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 231 
 
 PART II. 
 INDUSTRIAL ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 PREFATORY 251 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE POST-OFFICE 252 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE CIRCULATION OF LETTERS 263 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON POSTAGE-STAMPS 302 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POST-OFFICE SAVINGS' BANKS, AND GOVERNMENT INSURANCES 
 
 AND ANNUITIES 316 
 
 CONCLUSION 329 
 
 INDEX 335 
 
PAET I. 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH POST OFFICE. 
 
 " THE history of the POST OFFICE is a history of national and interna- 
 tional benefactions." J5Wy. Brit. 
 
 " The POST OFFICE giveth wings to the extension of commerce." 
 PENNANT. 
 
 " Of all inventions, the alphabet and the printing-press alone excepted, 
 those inventions which abridge distance have done most for the civilization of 
 our species. . . . Every improvement of the means of locomotion benefits 
 mankind, morally and intellectually, as well as materially." LORD MACATJLAY. 
 
HER MAJESTY'S MAILS 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 ON EARLY POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 IT is very remarkable that the first letter of which we have any 
 record should have afforded a conclusive proof of one of the two 
 heinous sins of its writer " the sweet singer of Israel ;" and not 
 only so, but that the messenger employed to convey this par- 
 ticular letter should have carried his own death-warrant. When 
 Uriah the Hittite stood in the way of the gratification of David's 
 unlawful lust, the king " wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by 
 the hands of Uriah," telling the commander of his hosts to put 
 the bearer of the letter " in the forefront of the hottest battle, 
 and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die." It is 
 further noteworthy that this letter, from the peculiar character 
 of its contents, must have been a sealed or otherwise secured 
 communication. 
 
 Circular letters, and a kind of post for conveying them, 
 are frequently mentioned both in sacred and profane history. 
 Queen Jezebel wrote the first circular letters of which we have 
 any account ; and it is not surprising to find that she issued 
 them 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 
 
 B2 
 
4 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 nobles in the city." Still later, or about 900 B.C. Naanian, 
 captain of the host of the King of Syria, was the bearer of a 
 letter from his master to the King of Israel ; and though in 
 every way a peaceful enough letter, the latter would seem to 
 have regarded it as a portent of war (2 Kings v. 6, 7). In the 
 days of Hezekiah, or 700 B.C. there must have been some 
 organization for the carrying of the government letters, for we 
 read in the Chronicles of the Kings that " the posts went with 
 the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel ;" 
 while in 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." 
 
 Though it is not clear by what means Ahasuerus sent those 
 letters-missive into every province of his empire, " according to 
 the writing thereof, and to every people according to their 
 language," yet there can be no doubt that we are indebted to 
 the Persians for the first idea of posts. Diodorus Siculus 
 describes a kind of station built at short distances, in Persia, 
 before the time of Cyrus, in which were placed messengers who 
 were employed solely in giving " notices of public occurrences 
 from one to another with a very loud and shrill voice ; by which 
 means news was transmitted to court with great expedition." 
 No secresy could be observed, however, in this arrangement. 
 Secret intelligence must have been transmitted in some other 
 way. We have, in fact, many accounts of the curious expedients 
 resorted to by the ancients when private and confidential messages 
 required to be forwarded from one place to another. Herodotus 
 tells us that one of the most curious was to shave the head of a 
 trusty messenger, and then to impress the secret intelligence 
 upon the skull. " When the hair had grown sufficiently long 
 for concealment, the messenger proceeded to his destination," 
 where, according to this barbarous arrangement, his head was 
 again shaved, and the object of the secret mission thus revealed. 
 Ovid tells of messages being inscribed upon a person's back. 
 The Jewish historian, Josephus, relates that during some wars 
 messages were conveyed by men disguised as animals ; also that 
 letters were frequently sent enclosed in coffins, in company with 
 
Persian Posts. 5 
 
 an embalmed body. Appian mentions letters inscribed on leaden 
 bullets, and thrown by a sling into a besieged city or camp. 
 Julius Csesar, when he wished to write secretly, arranged a kind 
 of cypher writing not very dissimilar to that of more modern 
 days. Suetonius and Diodorus Siculus both explain that he 
 made use of the fourth letter after that which he ought to have 
 used ; as d for a, e for 6, &c. According to the same authorities, 
 Augustus used the letter immediately following, as 6 for a, aa 
 for z, &c. 
 
 Cyrus was the first to organize a regular riding post, to remedy 
 the great inconvenience felt from the system then in existence 
 in Persia. With this view, he " 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 It is further added that the stations or 
 towers between these longer distances were taken down, as having 
 been superseded. Another authority 2 tells us that there were 
 one hundred and eleven postal stages, a day's journey distant 
 from each other, between Susa and the ^Egean Sea, and that at 
 each stage a large and beautiful structure was erected, and every 
 convenience for the purpose designed. The speed of the couriers 
 on the main line of road from Susa to Sardis, which Herodotus 
 says "nothing mortal surpassed," appears to have been from 
 sixty to one hundred and twenty miles a day. " Nothing in the 
 world," he adds, " is borne so swiftly as messages by the Persian 
 couriers." One of his commentators, however, excepts the carrier 
 pigeon from this statement, and very properly so. 
 
 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. Among the Greeks, 
 private correspondence was exceedingly rare, and can scarcely 
 be said to have existed before 600 B.C. Whether writing at all 
 was known in the Homeric times is uncertain. 3 (Grote, voL ii. 
 
 1 Xeiiophon, viii. p. 496, edit. Hutchinson. 
 
 2 Herodotus, viii. 98. 
 
 3 The epistle carried by Bellerophon, as described by Homer in the sixth 
 book of the Iliad, kiudly pointed put to us by oue of the greatest of our 
 Homeric scholars, would seein to indicate with its "sealed tablets," s< 
 
6 
 
 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 p. 192.) We know that subsequently the despatches relating 
 to the affairs of state were forwarded by special messengers or 
 runners, some of whom were celebrated for their speed and 
 powers of endurance. It is related that one of these, Phidip- 
 pides, ran from Athens to Sparta or 150 English miles in two 
 days. But this correspondence was carried on by a very select 
 few. Mr. Grote holds that the Spartans, at any rate, were 
 almost entirely ignorant of written communication. He quotes l 
 from Isocrates, who tells us that the most rational Spartans 
 " will appreciate a discourse, if they find any one to read it to 
 them." Col. Mure, 2 another eminent authority, argues that 
 writing was familiar in the time of Archilochus, both at Sparta 
 and elsewhere in Greece ; and quotes from this poet where 
 knowledge of written communications. The reader of the following extract 
 can scarcely fail to be reminded of the first sentence of the present chapter, in 
 which we speak of the first letter on record : 
 
 " Bellerophon, 
 
 Who o'er the sons of men in beauty shined, 
 Loved for that valour which preserves mankind. 
 Then mighty Preetns Argos' sceptre sway'd, 
 Whose hard commands Bellerophon obey'd. 
 With direful jealousy the monarch raged, 
 And the brave prince in numerous toils engaged. 
 Tor him Antsea burn'd with lawless flame, 
 And strove to tempt him from the path of fame : 
 In vain she tempted the relentless youth 
 Endued with wisdom, sacred fear, and truth. 
 Fired at his scorn the queen to Prsetus fled, 
 And begged revenge for her insulted bed : 
 Incensed he heard, resolving on his fate ; 
 But hospitable laws restrained his hate : 
 To Lycia the devoted youth he sent 
 With tablets sealed, that told his dire intent. 
 Now blessed by every power who guards the good, 
 The chief arrived at Xanthus' silver flood : 
 There Lycia's monarch paid him honours due, 
 Nine days he feasted, and nine bulls he slew, 
 But when the tenth bright morning orient glow'd 
 The faithful youth his monarch's mandate show'd, 
 The fatal tablets, till that instant seal'd, 
 The deathful secret to the king revealed." 
 
 Bellerophon must now fight for dear life. He slaughters the " chimaera dire " 
 " a mingled monster of no human kind ;" then the Solymsean crew, "fiercest 
 of men;" then the whole force of the Amazons is defied and conquered. 
 After successfully resisting a treacherous ambush of his " Lycian foes," he is 
 confessed " a god-descended chief," and remains in Lycia, the king giving 
 him his daughter in marriage, " with half the honours of his ample reign." 
 Pope's Homer, vol. i. pp. 217, 218. 
 
 i Grote's History of Greece^ vol. ii. p. 526. 2 Vol. in. p. 45,3. 
 
Roman Couriers. 7. 
 
 he likens himself or his ode to a scytaU containing unwelcome 
 intelligence. The word "scytale" is explained by Col. Mure as 
 having reference to the practice of writing upon a long narrow 
 strip of parchment, rolled up in a spiral form round a staff, one 
 fold close upon another ; which practice was employed, he says, 
 by the Spartan government for sending despatches to their 
 general on foreign service, who had a staff of precisely similar 
 dimensions, and on receiving the parchment rolled it round his 
 own staff for the purpose of reading it. It must be understood 
 here, for Col. Mure's account is not clear, that the words were 
 written on the strip along the staff, and were quite unintelligible 
 when the strip was unwrapped and not rolled round the counter- 
 part staff. The general, by these means, could alone decipher 
 the message. Mr. Grote, on the contrary, thinks that this staff 
 answered no other purpose than to ensure the herald respect 
 or his own inviolability of person in the performance of his 
 duty. The heralds employed by government, he suggests, were 
 "messengers, not postmen," and their office was to deliver 
 messages, not letters ; the Homeric Talthybius and Idseus, with 
 their successors in office, are " the messengers of Zeus and of 
 men." It is true that the herald might carry parchments ; but 
 this, thinks Mr. Grote, was neither his primitive nor his ordinary 
 function. " Idseus was a minister of the voice and the ear." 
 
 It is at least curious that the ancient Eomans, who seem to 
 have been well acquainted with the art of letter- writing, should 
 have been behind the Greeks, who knew little of it, in the 
 establishment of posts and couriers. We find from Suetonius 1 
 and Plutarch that it was to the Emperor Augustus that Eome 
 owed the introduction of public couriers. Before his time great 
 attention had been paid to the construction of roads ; some of 
 their great highways which remain to the present day attest 
 their skill and labour in this direction. Pliny informs us, that 
 so important was the question of good roads, that " the charge 
 of the public ways was intrusted only to men of the highest 
 dignity." One of the emperors himself undertook the charge of 
 the roads immediately round Eome, and appointed two men of 
 Praetorian rank to pave them. 2 Along the roads were inns or 
 
 1 Suet. Auff. 49. 
 
 2 Adam's Roman Antiquities, edit. Major, p. 511. 1835. 
 
8 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 stages called Mansiones ; commonly at the distance of half a 
 day's journey. Augustus appointed posts on these principal 
 trunk roads, arranging also places for relays of horses, which 
 were called Mutationes. 1 At the latter stages horses were kept, 
 in constant readiness, at the public expense. Pliny 2 distinctly 
 informs us that these posts were employed only to forward the 
 public despatches, or convey political intelligence from or to the 
 government at Kome. Although, however, there was this prohi- 
 bition against civilians using the government post, there was 
 none against employing private messengers upon the public 
 roads, and many of the wealthier citizens of the republic and the 
 empire had their regular messengers. Both public and private 
 couriers were designated tabellarii, 3 from tabella, a letter. We 
 can well understand how some extraordinary occasion might 
 arise for the speedy transmission of an important private com- 
 munication to some great distance an occasion to which the 
 private couriers would scarcely be equal, as they only travelled 
 short journeys without any relay. Hence the dissatisfaction 
 which is said to have arisen in respect to the exclusiveness of 
 the government arrangement. Then arose the granting of the 
 diploma, which was issued by the emperor or any Roman 
 magistrate, and by means of which, according to Pliny, any 
 person might command the use of the public horses or carriages, 
 or the services of the public couriers. 4 That the official couriers 
 travelled with wonderful expedition, which far excelled anything 
 of the kind in modern times, scarcely admits of question. 
 Blair, 5 quoting from Quintilian, tells us that Cicero received a 
 letter in Rome on the 28th of September, dated in Britain the 
 first of the same month. " It had been forwarded either through 
 civil letter-carriers, or through a military channel ; and consider- 
 ing the passage by sea, and the crossing of the Alps, or a 
 troublesome circuit to avoid the latter, the twenty-six days of 
 
 1 Adams, Roman Antiquities, edit. Major, p. 512. 
 
 2 Pliny, Ex. x. p. 120; see also Bergier, and Gibbon's Decline and Fall, 
 chap. xvii. 
 
 3 Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 
 
 4 We have seen it suggested in a respectable journal, with great show 
 of reason, that this diploma, which would doubtless have to pass with the 
 letter from the hands of one courier to another throughout the different 
 
 stages, is a complete prototype of our postage stamps. 
 5 Blair's Inquiry into the State of Slavery among the 
 
 Romans. 
 
Mexico and Peru. 9 
 
 actual travelling seem wonderfully few" (p. 261). Gibbon 1 
 relates an instance of early post-travelling, which almost tran- 
 scends the brightest achievements of our English service even 
 in the palmiest days of mail-coaches. Csesarius, a magistrate 
 of rank, in the time of Theodosius went post from Antioch 
 to Constantinople. He began his journey at night ; was in 
 Cappadocia, 165 miles from Antioch, the ensuing evening, and 
 arrived at Constantinople the sixth day about noon, the whole 
 distance being 725 Roman, or 665 English, miles. With such 
 instances before us, and also with the fact that ancient Eome 
 was very familiar with the art of letter writing as indeed it 
 seems to have been with nearly all the accessories to comfort in 
 their social and domestic existence, it is only the more marvel- 
 lous that this great nation, to whom, as well as to others, we are 
 so greatly indebted for much that exalts the intellect and adonis 
 life, should not have left us an example of such a useful institu- 
 tion as a public letter-post. In neglecting the establishment of 
 this institution, however, they neglected an indispensable requi- 
 site to social and commercial life and prosperity. The progress 
 of civilization, as it has often been pointed out, has always been 
 intimately and essentially connected with, and dependent upon, 
 facilities for intercommunication keeping pace, in fact, with 
 the means which nations have possessed for the interchange of 
 persons and property, and with them of thought and knowledge. 
 Historians who write, and people who talk, of civilization 
 travelling westward, have need to be reminded of the progress 
 which was made in the development of all useful arts, and of 
 the possession of many of the richest germs of civilization by 
 the ancient empires of Mexico and Peru. At any rate, their 
 system of post communication will bear comparison with those 
 of ancient Persia, not to speak of Greece or Eome. When the 
 Spaniards on the strength of their vaunted civilization set them- 
 selves to work to subdue these Western barbarians, as they 
 called them, they were astonished to find how superior their 
 travelling and postal arrangements were to any to which they 
 had ever been accustomed. The new world in this respect was 
 then far ahead of the old a fact which is wonderingly set 
 down and frankly acknowledged by the older Spanish writers. 
 1 Decline and Fall, vol. i. chap. 2. 
 
io Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 " Communications in Mexico, from the earliest times of which 
 any record can be had," says Prescott, 1 " was maintained with 
 the remotest parts of the country by means of couriers, post 
 houses being established for the purpose at two leagues distance 
 from each other." The courier bearing his despatches in the form 
 of a hieroglyphical painting, ran with them to the first station, 
 where he was relieved by another messenger, and so on till the 
 capital was reached. An old chronicler gives the speed at four 
 or five leagues an hour ; 2 but it is more likely that another was 
 more accurate when he gave the rate at 150 miles a day. By 
 means of these couriers, fresh fish and other dainties are said to 
 have been served at Montezuma's table from a distance of 150 
 miles. A curious and novel part of the arrangement of the 
 couriers of the Aztecs was the character of their dress. The 
 colour of the dress worn denoted respectively good or bad tidings, 
 and as they were almost exclusively engaged in carrying intelli- 
 gence of the movements of the royal army, or some equally 
 important national news, " their appearance spread joy or con- 
 sternation in the towns or districts through which they passed." 
 The post system of the Incas was even superior to anything of 
 the kind in Mexico. The remains of gigantic works of art attest 
 their great mechanical and architectural skill. Humboldt 3 tells 
 us that the roads of the Incas were among the most useful and 
 
 1 Prescott's Mexico, vol. i. pp. 34, 35. 
 
 2 Some interesting facts of the pedestrian capabilities of man in his savage 
 state are collected by Buffon in his Natural History, who assures us 
 that " civilized man knows little of strength or endurance." We need not, 
 however, travel so far for authentic instances of great locomotive power in 
 man. There are many curious accounts extant of the pedestrian powers of 
 the running footmen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Noble- 
 men and country gentlemen, both in England and Scotland, kept running 
 footmen np to so late as the middle of the last century. Hence, doubtless, 
 the designation " footman." It is related on well authenticated grounds that 
 the Earl of Home, early last century, gave his footman a commission towards 
 the close of the day to proceed from Home Castle in Berwickshire to Edin- 
 burgh, a distance of thirty-five miles, in order to deliver a letter of high poli- 
 tical importance. Early next morning, when his lordship entered the hall, he 
 saw the man sleeping on a bench, and " was proceeding to some rash act, 
 thinking the man had neglected his duty," when the footman awoke, and gave 
 the earl the answer to his letter. Lord Home, equally astonished and gratified, 
 it is said, with the man's amazing powers of speed, rewarded him with a piece 
 of ground, which bears the name to this day of the Post Riff, a term equiva- 
 lent to the postman's field, and the villagers of Home point to the plot as an 
 unquestionable proof of the truth of the story. 
 
 3 Vues des Cordilleres, p. 294. 
 
Great Speed of the Couriers. n 
 
 stupendous works ever executed by man. Mr. Prescott 1 says 
 that the traveller still meets, especially in central regions of the 
 table land, with memorials of the past. " Among them, perhaps, 
 the most remarkable are the great roads, the broken remains of 
 which are still in sufficient preservation to attest their former 
 magnificence." One of these stupendous works Mr. Prescott 
 goes on to describe as having been " conducted over pathless 
 sierras buried in snow ; galleries were cut for leagues through 
 the living rock ; rivers were crossed by means of bridges that 
 swung suspended in the air ; precipices were scaled by stairways 
 hewn out of the native bed ; ravines of hideous depth were filled 
 up with solid masonry ; in short, all the difficulties which beset a 
 wild and mountainous region, and which might appal the most 
 courageous engineer of modern times, were encountered and 
 successfully overcome." The length of this particular road the 
 historian estimates at from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles ; 
 while the roadway seems to have been so nicely constructed that 
 a carriage might travel upon it as securely as it could on the 
 Appian Way or our own Watling Street. Along the entire 
 route on the principal Peruvian roads, small buildings were 
 erected for the convenience of the post-runners, or chasquis, 
 who were stationed at these buildings to carry forward any 
 despatch which might arrive. These despatches were either 
 verbal, or conveyed by means of the quipus, an arrangement 
 not very dissimilar to the hieroglyphical scrolls of the Mexicans. 
 The quipa " was a cord composed of different coloured threads 
 tightly twisted together, from which a quantity "of smaller 
 threads were suspended in the manner of a fringe." The colours 
 denoted different objects, white representing silver; yellow, 
 gold ; or as representing abstract ideas, white signified peace 
 and red war. The most important kind of despatches were 
 accompanied by a thread of the crimson fringe which was worn 
 round the temples of the Inca, which thread seems to have been 
 regarded " with the same implicit deference," says Mr. Prescott, 
 " as the signet ring of an Oriental despot." The chasquis were 
 dressed in a peculiar livery, intimating their profession. They 
 were well-trained to their employment, and invariably chosen 
 for their speed and fidelity. The rate at which they ran over 
 
 1 History of the Conquest of Peru, vol. i. p. 5?. 
 
1 2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 the ground is nowhere mentioned, so far as we can ascertain, 
 but by a system of relays the despatches are said to have been 
 carried at the rate of about 150 miles a day. Montesinos, a 
 Spanish writer, says that, as in Mexico, the royal table was 
 furnished with the choicest dainties by means of the couriers ; 
 fish having been known to have been brought a distance of a 
 hundred leagues in twenty-four hours after it was drawn from 
 the ocean ! After reading of this marvellous expedition, and 
 the gigantic works which were reared to ensure the high rate of 
 speed, we may well share the wonder of the historian, who, 
 speaking of the postal arrangements of the Mexicans and 
 Peruvians got up, by the way, without any correspondence 
 with each other cannot understand " how two barbarian nations 
 of the new world " should have come to the knowledge of such 
 a system " long before it was introduced among the civilized 
 nations of Europe." It is almost sad to relate that the institu- 
 tion of the Peruvian posts, which appears to have made a deep 
 impression on the Spaniards when they first approached the 
 country, were allowed to fall into complete abeyance during the 
 rule of these so-called civilized conquerors. 
 
 It only remains to turn our attention to ancient China before 
 we come nearer home. Marco Polo, the famous Venetian, who 
 travelled in China in the fourteenth century, describes the govern- 
 ment post as having been long in existence, and similar to that 
 in use in Persia under Cyrus. " Messengers are sent to divers 
 provinces," says Polo, 1 "and on all the roads they find a post called 
 jamb, at distances of thirty-five miles, for the entertainment of 
 the imperial envoy." At .each jamb there was a large edifice, 
 " containing a bed covered with silk, and everything useful and 
 convenient for a traveller;" so that "if even a king should 
 come," adds Polo, " he would be well accommodated." Four 
 hundred horses were attached to each station ten thousand in 
 number for the convenience of couriers and travellers. " This 
 is the greatest establishment that ever was kept up by any king 
 or emperor in the world ; for at these jambs there are maintained 
 altogether more than 200,000 horses." This reads so much 
 like romance, that, associating the fact with another, namely, 
 that Polo's annotators are accustomed to tone down the statistics 
 1 Travels of Marco Polo, 1844 edit. pp. 139, 140. 
 
Early Chinese Posts. 13 
 
 of the quaint Venetian traveller, we may imagine a lesser num- 
 ber, and still conclude that the " establishment " was a most 
 gigantic undertaking. The Chinese posts appear to have been 
 kept up principally in the less populated districts, and for the 
 carrying of news over long distances. In other parts of the 
 country, and in some cases in the intervals between the more 
 aspiring post-stations, we find foot-runners also employed in 
 carrying despatches. They used to wear a large girdle set round 
 with bells, which were heard at a great distance. When one of 
 these runners received a letter or packet, he would at once set 
 off, and run to the next village, where, his approach being an- 
 nounced by his bells, another would make himself ready for the 
 next stage ; and thus, without a break, would the packet be 
 conveyed, " the Khan receiving news in one day and night from 
 places distant a ten days' journey." When the messengers rode 
 with despatches of greater importance, and used the jambs, we 
 find that they travelled day and night, accomplishing a distance 
 of 250 or 300 miles in twenty-four hours. Polo's account of the 
 way the business was accomplished seems to be quite trust- 
 worthy, as subsequent travellers 1 have described the posts^ 
 which excited their greatest admiration in much the same 
 manner. The whole of these facts afford a curious commentary 
 on the progress of civilization in the Celestial Empire : though 
 this gigantic and elaborate establishment has been in existence 
 from a very early period up to the present century, it is only 
 within the last few years that provision has been made in China 
 for public letter-posts ; and even this change was not inaugu- 
 rated by the Government, but by private enterprise. 
 
 The earliest date in modern European history at which any 
 postal service is mentioned, is the year 807, when an organization 
 was planned by the Emperor Charlemagne. Having reduced 
 Italy, Germany, and a part of Spain to his rule, the Emperor of 
 the Franks found it necessary to have some kind of communica- 
 tion with his new dominions. Hence the institution of govern- 
 ment couriers and posts which brought him news of occurrences 
 happening at distant places with great expedition. The service, 
 however, did not long survive him ; his successors lost the benefits 
 of the posts even quicker than they sacrificed the immense 
 i See Anderson's British Embassy (London, 1796), p. 282. 
 
14 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 territories which he added to his crown. We hear no more of 
 posts in France till 1464, when, by an ordonnance of June 19th 
 in that year, the restless and ambitious Louis XI. re-established 
 them, in order that he " might be the easier advertised of all that 
 passed in his own and neighbouring states." Louis XI. is said 
 to have employed 230 couriers to deliver his letters and de- 
 spatches. It was not till the seventeenth century that the posts 
 thus originated became public posts. 
 
 The first regular European letter-post was established in the 
 republic of the Hanse Towns in the early part of the thirteenth 
 century. These small republics, detached as they were from 
 each other, yet all alike engaged in commercial pursuits, would 
 of necessity require frequent intercommunication ; while, as one 
 writer remarks, the merchants themselves being the rulers, 
 nothing can be more natural, on the one hand, than that the 
 government should allow the benefits of the new order of things 
 to be shared by the entire community, or on the other hand that 
 they should fail to observe the fiscal advantages derivable from 
 letter postage. The example set by the thriving Hanse Towns 
 was not followed in Germany proper till two centuries afterwards, 
 when Maximilian I. caused a line of posts to be laid down in the 
 Tyrol, connecting his newly-acquired Lombardian territories with 
 Austria. Roger, the first count of the House of Thurn and 
 Taxis, originally a member of one of the princely families of 
 Lombardy, is credited with the merit of applying the institu- 
 tion of the post to this locality. In 1516 the next count of the 
 same House formed a line of post communication between Vienna 
 and Brussels, thus further connecting the vast. dominions of the 
 Spanish emperor. We next find that the successor of Maxi- 
 milian, the famous Emperor Charles V. gave Leonhard, Count of 
 Thurn and Taxis, a commission to establish one more line of 
 posts between the Netherlands and Italy, going through Treves, 
 Spires, &c. to Wurtemburg and the Tyrol, and on the successful 
 carrying out of the scheme in 1543, creating the count Ober- 
 postmeister of the German empire. For the next fifty years, after 
 the death of Charles V. the posts which he had established fell 
 into disuse, principally because they fell into debt and into the 
 hands of enemies ; but they were again restored under the 
 Emperor Rudolf II. Then disputes arose between the different 
 
Thurn and Taxis. 15 
 
 states of the empire, Saxony, the Palatinate, Wurtemburg, and 
 other states electing to serve themselves with their own posts. 
 To settle in some part these disputes, the Emperor Matthias, in 
 1616 (according to Horneck) created the Count of Taxis a baron 
 of the empire, transferring at the same time " the imperial posts 
 in fee upon himself and heirs," in virtue of which his descendants 
 have always held peculiar rights and privileges. Austria, Prussia, 
 Bavaria, Hanover, Baden, and the refractory states above alluded 
 to have in late years either purchased exemption from the 
 arrangement, or compulsorily freed themselves from it, but the 
 family possesses to this day, as a fief of the empire, the postal 
 system of Nassau, Saxe Weimar, Schwarzburg, Kudolstadt, &c. 
 The posts of the free cities of Germany, also, in most part belong 
 to the House, the head quarters of which have been, since 1811, 
 at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. 
 
1 6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 OUR POST COMMUNICATIONS PRIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 OF THE POST OFFICE. 
 
 WE may gather from different historical notices and parlia- 
 mentary papers something like a continuous account of the early 
 history of the British Post Office, tracing its progress from the 
 fifteenth century to the present time. We look in vain, how- 
 ever, for the same distinctness in the details prior to that period, 
 and can do little more than guess as to how our forefathers then 
 got on in the matter of their correspondence. We have searched, 
 in fact, through entire and laboured tomes of history, without 
 coming across even the barest mention of such subjects. It is 
 true that it is only within a comparatively recent period that the 
 Post Office institution has risen to a position of great national 
 importance. From this position it would now be impossible to 
 exclude it in any subsequent national records : that kind of 
 writing which should neglect to recite the means employed by 
 nations to compass their advancement, step by step, would 
 scarcely now be dignified with the name of history. It is because 
 it has been vastly different in past times that we have now to 
 lament over the meagreness of our information on this, and 
 similar subjects. " History," says an able writer in the Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica, " more attentive to record the transactions of 
 monarchs than the steps by which communities improve their 
 conveniences, furnishes little beyond an incidental notice of the 
 modes by which the circulation of correspondence was effected 
 before it became matter of state regulation." Such subjects 
 were probably cast aside as furnishing nothing but a mass of 
 uninteresting detail. Distinguished annalists of our own day 
 have thought differently, however, and the brilliant pages of 
 Macaulay and Froude are even enlivened by the introduction 
 of facts showing the gradual advance made in our social and 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Era. 1 7 
 
 domestic improvements. It is to such materials as we have, 
 rendered scanty by the neglect of our earlier historians, that we 
 must now turn. 
 
 It is almost impossible to tell whether any organization existed 
 in Britain under the Eomans for the delivery of despatches ; or 
 even whether the system in vogue at Eome was ever brought to 
 this country. Wherever the conquerors went they certainly 
 made transmission between different parts of the country com- 
 paratively easy and safe. The remains of the roads constructed 
 by the Eomans bear witness to the pains which they took in 
 this direction. But here our researches end. Of the Anglo- 
 Saxon era the information left us is equally bare and scanty. 
 Sharon Turner, Palgrave, and Kemble are all nearly silent on 
 this subject. The Anglo-Saxon kings would seem to have done 
 something to keep up the roads which the Eomans made with 
 such skill ; and in the practice of travelling from place to place 
 they seem to have done more than their descendants of several 
 centuries afterwards. Not only in the towns, but on the high roads 
 the people had their taverns, or guest-houses, as they were called. 
 " The word inn" says Mr. Wright, 1 " is itself Saxon, and sig- 
 nified a lodging." A traveller in Bede arrives at a hospitium in 
 the north of England, " kept by a paterfamilias and his house- 
 hold." The travellers, it ought to be said, were mostly wander- 
 ing minstrels and " merchants " answering to our pedlars ; and 
 they were always welcome, for they brought the only news ever 
 received from distant places. It is more than likely that the 
 hospitable laws of the period had something to do with the 
 heartiness of their welcome. Mr. Wright tells us that when a 
 stranger presented himself at a Saxon door and asked for board 
 and lodging, the man who refused was looked upon with con- 
 tempt by his countrymen. The venerable Bede describes as the 
 first act of the "custom of hospitality," the washing of the 
 stranger's hands and feet ; afterwards he would be allowed to 
 remain two nights without being questioned. A refusal to give 
 this accommodation was considered worthy of ecclesiastical cen- 
 sure. Merchant travellers went in small parties for defence as 
 well as companionship, and as the laws of hospitality did not 
 
 1 History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England during the 
 Middle Ages, p. 75. 
 
1 8 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 relate so much to them, they carried their tents with them in 
 much the same way as the pedlars and gipsies of our own day. 
 Messengers employed to carry news and letters between the 
 different kings of the Heptarchy walked at a swift rate with 
 them. Little difference is recorded in this respect, and in other 
 of the domestic manners of the nation under the Norman kings, 
 if we except the change in travelling and the greater speed of 
 the messengers brought about by a more extensive use of horses. 
 While the general post dates from the time of the Stuarts, the 
 establishment of a regular riding post in England owes its origin 
 to Edward IV. As the establishment of this post in England 
 is almost contemporaneous with that of the French king, Louis 
 XL, it cannot be said that England, even at this period, was 
 much behind her continental neighbours in the production of 
 measures of social progress. The English post, moreover, seems 
 from the first to have been fully commensurate with the demands 
 for its service, its growth also depending on the gradual advance- 
 ment made in the country. Five or six 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 fewVho engaged in literary or scientific pursuits were either 
 attached to the court or to the monastic establishments, of which 
 we had then a fair share. Even when the Tudor dynasty came 
 in, trade with foreign countries and remote districts in our own 
 country was to a great extent unknown. Each district dwelt 
 alone, supplied its own wants, and evinced very little desire for 
 any closer communication. Whilst we can thus account for the 
 paucity of correspondence among the people, the different stages 
 of progress which the transmission of the royal letters underwent 
 in England testify to their increasing number, and must not go 
 unnoticed. 
 
Haste, Post Haste / 1 9 
 
 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 Misce Rolls, " and the entries of these payments," says one 
 writer, l " 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 nobles of the time, and 
 communications passed between them by means of these func- 
 tionaries. 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 to borrow from 
 private individuals. Several 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. We may 
 notice here, in passing, that afterwards such words were not 
 understood as of idle intent, but were regarded as indications of 
 the importance of the communication, some of the superscriptions 
 being as energetic as words could make them. Thus, in the 
 reign of Edward VI. we find the Lord Protector (Somerset) 
 writing to Lord Dacre in Cumberland anent the Border troubles, 
 which were becoming serious again, and concerning which delay 
 could not be suffered. Somerset's letter to Dacre is thus 
 endorsed, " To our very good lord, the Lord Dacre, Warden of 
 the West Marches, in haste ; haste, post haste, for thy life, for 
 thy life, for thy life." Lord Dacre's reply to the Duke of 
 Somerset is endorsed, " To my Lord Protector's Grace, in haste ; 
 haste, post haste, for thy life, for thy life, haste, haste." 2 Both 
 
 1 Ency. Brit. 8th edit. 
 
 2 Nicholson and Burns, History and Antiquities of Cumberland and West- 
 moreland, vol. i. p. 62. 
 
 c2 
 
2o Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 these letters seem to have taken five days for the journey 
 between London and Carlisle. 
 
 With the machinery, to a great extent, ready to his hand, the 
 improvements contrived by Edward IV. were easily accomplished. 
 In 1481, this monarch was engaged in war with Scotland, when, 
 according to Gale, 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 his camp with increased expedition, though, as different 
 writers give different accounts of the speed at which the couriers 
 travelled, it is not easy to determine the exact increase in the 
 rate. It is nevertheless certain, that a considerable improve- 
 ment took place, although, by the way, Edward IV. seems to have 
 had no great desire to benefit either his age or posterity in the 
 matter. " The natural indolence and love of pleasure of the 
 king led to the establishment of one of the most useful and 
 beneficial institutions of civilized life ;" * and it really seems 
 that Edward was more anxious that his brother, the Duke of 
 Gloucester, should be able to amuse him speedily with records 
 of intrigues, than that his posts should subserve any national 
 purpose. The couriers travelled at the rate of a hundred miles 
 a day. When peace was restored, and Edward returned to his 
 court, the relays fell into disuse", only to be revived by his 
 successors in cases of extreme urgency. Little improvement in 
 communication could be expected under such a course of pro- 
 cedure, and little was effected. 
 
 Henry VIII. was the first monarch who endeavoured to keep 
 the posts in a state of efficiency, and, who, with the energy and 
 wisdom for which he was so remarkable in matters relating to 
 the advancement of the nation, sought to improve their or- 
 ganization in peace as well as war. It is still noticeable, 
 however, that the post stages were kept up, primarily, as a conve- 
 nience to the Government for the conveyance of its despatches. 
 Henry VIII. instituted the office of " Master of the Postes," 
 with the entire control of the service. During the king's 
 lifetime the office was filled by one Brian Tuke, afterwards 
 
 1 Extracts from Contemporary Documents and Letters relating to the last 
 Ten Years of Edward the Fuurth, A.D. 1473 1483. London, 1845. 
 
" Master of the Posies: 1 2 1 
 
 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," at an 
 early period of his superintendence, 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 King's 
 Grace hath no more ordinary posts, nor for many days hath 
 had, but between London and Calais. For, sir, you know well, 
 that except the hackney horses between Gravesend and Dover, 
 there is no such usual conveyance in post for men in this realm 
 as in the accustomed places in France and other parties ; for," 
 adds Tuke, with delightful naivete, " no man can keep horses in 
 readiness without some way to bear the charges ; but when placards 
 are sent for such cause (viz. to order the immediate forwarding of 
 some state packet) the constables many times be fain to take 
 horses out of ploughs and carts, wherein can be no extreme 
 diligence." The king's worthy secretary thus charges the post- 
 master with remissness, and the mails with tardiness, when the 
 facts, as gathered from the above letter, show that the Govern- 
 ment 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 posts between London 
 and the court, there be now but two ; whereof the one is a good 
 robust fellow, and wont to be diligent, evil entreated many 
 times, he and other posts, by the ' herbigeours,' for lack of 
 horse-room or horse-meat, without which diligence cannot be. 
 The other hath been a most painful fellow in night and day 
 that I have known amongst the messengers. If he now slak he 
 shall be changed as reason is." 
 
 In this reign we find the first mention of the system of 
 travelling post on the horses attached to the department of the 
 " Master of the Postes." When the Government required the 
 horses for a messenger travelling on its service, not carrying 
 letters, the king's Council addressed a letter "to all mayors, 
 sheriffs, constables, and all other of His Majesty's subjects to 
 whom in this case it shall appertain, or to any of them." The 
 following is a copy of a warrant issued in 1541 : 
 
22 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 " Forasmuch as the King's Majesty sendeth this bearer, James, one of His 
 Majesty's pursuivants, into those parts by post upon certain of His Majesty's 
 affairs, his pleasure and high commandment is that you see him furnished of 
 post-horses from place to place, both outward and homeward, at reasonable 
 prices, as ye care for His Majesty's pleasure, and as ye will answer for the con- 
 trary at your peril." x 
 
 In the same year, at the meeting of Privy Council, a warrant 
 for payment of money spent in the king's service was made out 
 to Brian Tuke, and called "post money." 2 Again, 3 by an order 
 in Council at Hampton Court, 1542, Sir Brian Tuke is required 
 by a letter either to leave there a sum of money, " for the 
 despatch of post from time to time, as they should be sent forth 
 with the king's letters, or else appoint one to attend here 
 specially for that purpose, for otherwise the King's Highness's 
 affairs should be for lack of money greatly hindered." The 
 position of " Master of the Postes " is, at this early period, 
 one of great anxiety, but associated with no little honour and 
 responsibility. One day we find him accounting for reported 
 delay in his mails in the following manner : " But, not taking 
 upon me to excuse the posts, I will advertise you that I have 
 known folks, which, for their own thanks, have dated their 
 letters a day or two more before they were written, and the 
 conveyers have had the blame ; " another day, and he is assisting 
 in the deliberations of the Privy Council, of which he seems to 
 have been a member by virtue of his office. Sir H. Nicholas 4 
 gives the name of Sir Brian Tuke amongst other members 
 who, in 1532, signed a letter of congratulation from the Privy 
 Council to the monarch, " on his safe arrival and most goodly 
 passage into your towne of Calais." 
 
 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 horse posts from Hull 
 to York, York to Durham, and Durham to Newcastle. 5 
 
 The Council of Edward VI. finding that a great many irre- 
 gularities existed in the hire of post-horses, had an Act passed, 
 
 1 Harleian MSS. No. 283, f. 148. 
 
 2 Nicholas's Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, 
 vol. vii. p. 72. 3 Ut supra, p. 133. 
 
 4 Ut supra, p. 343. 
 
 5 Froude's History of England, vol. iii. p. 185. 
 
Posts during Elizabeth's Reign. 
 
 (2 and 3 Edward VI. c. 3), fixing the charge at a penW per iriilj 
 for all horses so impressed. ^ "* 
 
 The Lords of the Council in Queen Mary's reign ma( 
 that all the posts between London and the North " shoi 
 each of them keep a book, and make entry of every letter that 
 he shall receive, the time of the delivery thereof into his hands, 
 with the parties' names that shall bring it into him." 
 
 Up to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, no further 
 important improvements were 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 her 
 sister's reign. Before Elizabeth's death the expenses of the 
 post were reduced to rather less than 5,OOOZ. per annum. On 
 her accession, the sum charged for conveying Her Majesty's 
 despatches from stage to stage was enormous. Up even to so 
 late as the thirty -first year of her reign, a rate of 20c. a letter 
 was levied by the proprietors of post-horses for every stage 
 travelled over. The Council at first resolved to pay the pro- 
 prietors 3s. a day for the service, irrespective of the distance 
 travelled. The payment was reduced to 2s. and ultimately to 
 1 8d. a day. Much interesting and curious information respecting 
 this early service the different stages, the routes taken by the 
 couriers of the time of Elizabeth, &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, as did Sir Brian Tuke, all 
 current expenses appertaining to his department " the wages 
 and entertainments of the ordinary posts," and he was re- 
 imbursed in full under the grant " for the conveyance of Her 
 Highness's letters and her Council's." The information respect- 
 ing the routes taken is especially interesting, inasmuch as it 
 serves to show that even at this early period arrangements were 
 made with great circumspection, some of these early post routes 
 existing, with but trifling modifications, down to the present 
 century, and to the time of railways. The route from London 
 to Berwick is shown by the list 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 ; 
 
24 Her Majesty s Mails. 
 
 8. Stamford; 9. Grantham ; 10. Newark; 11. Tookesford 
 (Tuxford) ; 12. Foroby (Ferriby) ; 13. Doncaster ; 14. Ferry 
 Bridge; 15. Wetherby ; 16. Boroughbridge ; 17. Northal- 
 lerton ; 18. Derneton (Darlington) ; 19. Durham ; 20. New- 
 castle ; 21. Morpeth ; 22. Hexhain ; 23. Haltwistle ; 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, Heading, 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 detour 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 com- 
 mandment of Sir Francis Walsingham, throughout all the postes 
 
' ' Extraordinary Posts. " 25 
 
 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 apiece 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 "extra- 
 ordinary " 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 Stow, * " 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 con- 
 tinued 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 
 1 Survey e of London , vol. ii. 
 
26 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 aa 
 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 in- 
 justice 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 the " Master 
 of the Postes" should have charge both of the English and 
 foreign offices, and that the title of this functionary should be 
 changed to " Chief Postmaster." Thomas Eandolph, afterwards 
 Sir Thomas, who was the first to bear the title, was the Randolph 
 whom the queen employed so often on delicate missions and 
 ambassadorial duties to Scotland and the Continent. So much, 
 in fact, was Randolph out of England before he was knighted, 
 that his Post-office place must have been a mere sinecure, and 
 bestowed upon him on account of his more important and very 
 eminent services abroad. 1 "Randolph," wrote Sir William 
 
 1 Some doubt attaches to the person who first held the office of "chief-post- 
 master." Thomas Randolph, one of the minor poets and dramatic writers of 
 that era, the .Randolph of the Muses' Looking Glass and The Jealous Lovers^ 
 lived within the period. Though he enjoyed the friendship of Ben Jouson, 
 
The Elizabethan Era. 27 
 
 Cecil to Queen Elizabeth out of Scotland, on one occasion when 
 he accompanied that great statesman to make a treaty with the 
 Queen Eegent there " Kandolph is worth more than I fear our 
 time will well consider, and no poolar nor robber." 1 
 
 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 gradually and slowly, but more than 
 a revolution in religion had been worked during the dynasty 
 of the Tudors. In the fifteenth century many social changes 
 had commenced, it is true ; serfdom and villanage still existed 
 in name, but they were fast disappearing as a fact. If we may 
 credit the pictures drawn by Chaucer, and in the curious writings 
 of Piers Ploughman and of course we may the barons and 
 country gentry lived in a much more kindly and intimate inter- 
 course with their dependents than they had done at any time 
 subsequent to the Norman invasion. It was the development 
 of trade, however, notwithstanding all this, which really com- 
 menced with the Tudors, that gave the grand impulse to the 
 new social era. The increased commerce spread wealth abroad, 
 and wealth brought with it many of the elements of increased 
 social comfort. Thanks in great part to the Lollards, who had 
 done incalculable service for the poor, the more defenceless, the 
 more uneducated portions of this early society, the people began 
 to feel more interest in each other and in the affairs of the 
 world, and in proportion as this feeling grew, the demand for 
 interchange of thought and news became more and more urgent. 
 Under the new order of things the conveyance of letters became 
 a matter of the same vital necessity as the conveyance of goods 
 or persons, and thus the same circumstances which would 
 produce roads, bridges, and hostelries, necessarily led to the 
 establishment of the post. In the reign of Henry VIII. the 
 English people kept up 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 increased trade 
 wrought was immediate and striking. English rural districts 
 
 who enrolled him, indeed, among his adopted sons, and who might have 
 obtained him the place, yet it is tolerably certain that the emoluments of the 
 office went to his diplomatic namesake. 
 
 1 Froude's Reiyn of Elizabeth (vol. vii. and viii. of his valuable History of 
 England} is full of references to Thomas Randolph. 
 
28 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 in great 
 seclusion, and who enjoyed almost a monopoly of learning. 
 The Eeformation civilized as well as christianized the people. 
 Other causes, perhaps of lesser importance, were at work, which 
 directly operated in opening out the country and encouraging 
 habits of locomotion, and, in this way, the spread of intelligence 
 generally. Among 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 West- 
 minster. 1 
 
 Up to this time horses afforded almost the only means of 
 conveyance from place to place, though carriages of a kind now 
 begin to be mentioned in contemporary accounts. The first 
 mention of any kind of conveyance in England was made in 
 the reign of Eichard II. The king " being threatened," says 
 Stow, in his Surveye of London and Westminster, " by the rebels 
 of Kent, rode from the Tower of London to Mile End, and with 
 him his mother, because she was sick and weak, in a whirlicote" 
 Kichard de Maidstone has described in Latin verse the grand 
 entry of Richard II. into London, when the ladies of the court 
 rode in two of these carts, for they were nothing else, one of 
 which "falling over," says Mr. Wright, 2 "exposed its fair 
 occupants in a not very decorous manner to the jeers of the 
 multitude." The jeering, however, was not the worst conseqence, 
 for the untoward event seems to have resulted in the banishment 
 of coaches from the precincts of the court for near two hundred 
 years. Stow tells us that the "luxury of coaches" was re- 
 
 1 Froude's History of England, vol. iii. p. 94. 
 
 2 History of Domestic Manners, p. 496. 
 
Travelling in 1583. 29 
 
 introduced into England in the reign of Queen Mary, when. 
 Walter Bipon made a coach for the Earl of Rutland ; and in the 
 year 1564, " the same artist made the first hollow turning 
 coach, with pillars and arches," for Queen Elizabeth. The 
 coach nothing, in fact, but a cart without springs, covered 
 over by a gorgeous canopy, and a chair or seats fixed in it was 
 used by the queen on one occasion when she went to open 
 Parliament. Elizabeth would seem to have used it only once, 
 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. 1 
 The wagon, which had been originally contrived for ladies, now 
 that the queen discarded it, was again in disfavour, and banished 
 from London. It seems to have found its way into the pro- 
 vinces, however, the gentry of that time being delighted with it. 
 " On a certain day in 1583," we learn on the authority of Mr. 
 Smiles, "that valyant knyght, Sir Harry Sydney, entered 
 Shrewsbury in his wagon with his trompeter blowynge, verey 
 joyfull to behold and see." Travelling in carriages was much 
 more insecure, as well as difficult, than performing the journey 
 on horseback. We could not well, in fact, exaggerate the 
 difficulties which all kinds of travellers were required to compass 
 at this early period. As yet there were but one or two main 
 roads, and even these were infested by bands of robbers. The 
 Paston Letters contain several allusions to the dangers incident to 
 travelling in the country during the century. There seems to 
 have been no safety except when the travellers went in company. 
 Even in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and certainly in 
 all the more remote districts, the roads are described as having 
 been not unlike broad ditches, much waterworn, and strewn 
 with loose stones. Travellers had thus little choice but to ride 
 on horseback or walk. The sovereign, the judges, and all 
 gentlefolk rode. Women in general at any rate those who 
 were not skilful horsewomen rode on pillions behind some 
 relative or serving man. In this way Queen Elizabeth, when 
 she rode into the city, placed herself behind her Lord Chancellor. 
 The side-saddle was in use, it is true, at this early period, but 
 none but the most experienced riders ventured with it, 
 1 Smiles' Lives of the Engineers, vol. i. 
 
30 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Under all these circumstances, it cannot be wondered at that 
 general intelligence travelled slowly. If we wonder at all, it is 
 how special messengers, travelling with special despatches of 
 consequence, possibly contrived to accomplish some recorded 
 journeys in the short time they did. Among many well authen- 
 ticated cases of the kind, we may give one from the annals of 
 the reign of Henry VIII. On the 1st of April, 1515, the English 
 envoy in Scotland wrote from Stirling to Henry of England : 
 " This Friday, when I came home to dinner, I received your 
 most honourable letters by post, dated at your mansion, 
 Greenwich, 26th March." x The speed at which the royal courier 
 travelled in this case would have seemed almost incredible had 
 we not had good reason for believing that Henry VIII. kept his 
 English couriers in a high state of perfection. Another instance 
 is somewhat better known. Sir Robert Carey rode post with 
 sealed lips from Eichmond in Surrey to Edinburgh in less than 
 three days to announce the death of Elizabeth to the Scotch 
 king. This was undoubtedly a great feat for those days, 
 especially as the messenger rested a considerable time on two 
 occasions during the journey. Public and private couriers 
 riding post had other difficulties to contend with than those of 
 bad roads and unequal accommodation difficulties which throw 
 a curious light over the wants and conditions of the poorer 
 portions of the community. A courier, in approaching a town, 
 would be soon surrounded by crowds of people, urgently asking 
 for news of the districts through which he had passed. At 
 times, he would not be suffered to pass on without furnishing 
 the needed information. About this time a royal courier in a 
 Yorkshire town was maltreated because he would not or could 
 not satisfy the curiosity of a mob which had gathered round 
 him. Fear of such a circumstance has been known to cause 
 the post messenger to make a detour of many miles, in order to 
 avoid the gaze and importunity of the commonalty. Few of them 
 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 
 
 1 Mr. Lang's Historical Summary of the Post Office in Scotland, p. 3. 
 In this and all subsequent cases we have thought it best to give the spelling of 
 early letters and extracts as modernized. 
 
Copy of an Early Letter. 3 1 
 
 carry letters for the rich. 1 The pilgrim seems to have taken the 
 place of the travelling minstrel of the Saxon and Norman periods. 
 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 perhaps 
 a straw, was frequently placed, running round the letter. The 
 following letter, still extant, brought under the notice of the 
 Post-office authorities by the Bishop of Llandaff, 2 in order, it 
 would seem, to elucidate the Post-office history of the period, 
 will serve here to give the reader an insight into the way letters 
 were then dealt with, as well as the speed at which they were 
 forwarded : 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " From my house at Croydon, this 22d July, 1566, at four of 
 the o'clock, afternoon. 
 
 " Your honour's always, 
 
 "MATTHEW CANT." 
 
 The letter is thus endorsed by successive postmasters, according 
 to the then existing custom : 
 
 " Received at Waltham Cross, the 23d of July, at nine at night. 
 
 " Received at Ware, the 23d of July, at twelve at night. 
 
 " Received at Croxton, the 24th of July, between seven and 
 eight of the morning," 
 
 His Grace's letter, therefore, which would appear to have 
 been of such importance that one or more messengers were 
 required to travel night and day, in order to deliver it at the 
 earliest possible moment, took forty hours to travel sixty-three 
 miles. 
 
 1 Whittaker's History of Craven, speaking of the close of the sixteenth 
 century. Fol. edit. 
 
 2 Vide Postmaster-General's Second Report, p. 38. 
 
3 2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RISE OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE. 
 
 IT was reserved for the Stuart kings 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 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 VIII. 
 Little progress towards this desirable end was made in the reign 
 of the first James, if we except a better organization for the con- 
 veyance of official despatches. At the same time, it is only fair 
 to state that the improved organization here referred to formed 
 the groundwork for the subsequent public post. 
 
 One of the results attendant on the accession of the Scotch 
 king to the English crown was the means of calling attention to 
 the inadequate and imperfect arrangement in the system of 
 horse-posts. On the 5th of April, 1603, a few days after the 
 sycophantic Carey had hurried headlong into Scotland to salute 
 him as king, James set out on his journey to the English capital, 
 to take quiet possession of the crown which sat so uneasily on 
 the heads of his descendants. He was treated most royally, as 
 he took the different stages on the great North road, by the 
 Stanhopes, the Shrewsburys, the Harringtons, the Burghleys, 
 and the Sadlers of that day ; while it is amusing to note the 
 difficulties which some of his retinue experienced in getting from 
 one mansion to another. Then, immediately on his arrival in 
 London, the high road from Edinburgh to the English capital 
 became thronged night and day with the king's countrymen, 
 who rushed forward in the zeal of a new-born enthusiasm to 
 
" The Post for the Packet" 33 
 
 congratulate the monarch whom, for " unprinceliness and un- 
 godliness," they had all spurned but a few months before. Not 
 Scotchmen only, but English statesmen and courtiers, " corpora- 
 tions and officiali tes of every description," are said to have 
 thronged all the post-roads to London, " eager to be shone upon 
 by the new risen sun." 1 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 mce 
 versa, were stopped whole days on the road for want of horses, 
 which had been taken, sometimes by force, by those who were 
 anxious to be first with their congratulations. As some remedy 
 for this state of things, the Lords of the English Council issued 
 a proclamation, calling upon all magistrates to assist the post- 
 masters " in this time so full of business" as " my Lords " naively 
 express it, " by seeing to it that they were supplied with fresh 
 and able horses as necessity 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." 2 
 
 As the general intercourse between the two capitals promised 
 to become permanent, and travelling along the principal roads 
 increased, further general orders were published from time to 
 time by the customary royal proclamation. Two kinds of post 
 were established during James's reign, and both were in opera- 
 tion 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 five in 
 winter) except " with the consent of the post of the stage at 
 which they did not change." 3 For the service of the second 
 post, or " the post for the packet," every postmaster was bound 
 
 1 Mr. Forster's The Grand Remonstrance, p. 98. 
 
 2 Book of Proclamations, 16031609. British Museum. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 67. 
 
34 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 to keep not less than two horses ready "with furniture con- 
 venient," when, on the receipt of a " packet," or parcel contain- 
 ing 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 fair 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 every 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 blow as oft as the post 
 meets company, or at least four times in every mile." Thus 
 arose a custom which, under modified arrangements, was strictly 
 observed in the days of mail-coaches. 7 
 
 It will be readily observed that in the arrangements of the 
 period there was nothing to prevent at least one of the 
 posts being extensively used, except the important restrictions 
 which the king put upon its use. During the reign of James 
 none 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 ; " and it was not till towards 
 the end of the reign of his unfortunate son that this post came 
 to be used, under certain conditions, by merchants and private 
 persons. The " thorough post " or " express posts " were exclu- 
 sively used in conveying the more important despatches, and in 
 the State papers relating to the period we find frequent warrants 
 issued for payment of these extraordinary posts. 
 
 It was during the reign of James I. 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 the journey. The Government further settled 
 by order in Council, that any person, whether travelling on the 
 1 See Notes and Queries, 1853, first series. 
 
Post Horses. 35 
 
 public business or not, should, if furnished with warrants from 
 the Council, have prior claim to private individuals over post 
 horses and proper entertainment, when they were thus able to 
 demand either in the name of the king. In a warrant of Council, 
 for instance, dated Whitehall, May 16th, 1630, the Privy Council 
 orders 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 drain- 
 ing the royal chace for the king. The postmasters were not 
 always particular as to how the horses were obtained, for we 
 find in 1625 1 that Sir Anthony Weldon complains to the Privy 
 Council that the postmaster of Dartford violently took one of his 
 geldings from his servant, and sent it forward as a post-horse 
 with an ordinary packet. No action seems to have been taken 
 in the matter, so that we may reasonably conclude that the Privy 
 Council looked upon the matter as a venial transgression, if a 
 transgression at all. In another case, the postmaster of the town 
 of Daventry is the complainant. He writes to Lord Stanhope, 
 the Chief Postmaster, that he furnished one of the king's 
 pursuivants with two able post-horses to carry him to Coventry, 
 and he refuses to pay for them ; but has been violent and 
 abusive. He begs Lord Stanhope to report his proceedings to 
 the Lord Treasurer. 2 Again, the postmaster of Dover is most 
 severely dealt with for not using despatch in his business, so 
 much so that we cannot wonder that his neighbour of Dartford 
 used other people's horses without scruple. Sir John Hippesley 
 writes from Dover to the Secretary of State, that if the Duke 
 (Buckingham) does not send to Lord Stanhope to take some 
 course with the postmaster there, " business will certainly 
 miscarry ; when the Duke wrote the other day * for life,' his 
 letter was nine hours coming the fourteen miles." Secretary 
 Conway, in reply, writes to Sir John Hippesley, who was governor 
 of the castle, to commit the postmaster to prison for his 
 neglect. He knew how greatly the Government were concerned 
 because the preparations of the French at Dunkirk increased, 
 and it was only right that he should suffer for his slackness and 
 constant delays ; and suffer he did. 3 
 
 1 State Papers of the Reign of James I. Domestic Series, vol. xiv. 
 
 2 Ibid. vol. xxiii. 
 
 3 Ibid. vol. xxi. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Little as James I. 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 sanctioned by the king. In another of the very 
 numerous proclamations of his reign, it is stated that His Majesty 
 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 many ways with his department, 
 gave great offence to Lord Stanhope, and mutual unpleasantness 
 sprung up between the officers of the two establishments. Lord 
 Stanhope continued by his agents to carry letters abroad, and 
 obtained a warrant prohibiting the De Questers from interfering. 
 Sir John Coke, addressing his fellow secretary, Lord Conway, 
 comments on "the audacity of men in these times, and that 
 Billingsley, a broker by trade (one of Lord Stanhope's agents), 
 should dare to attempt thus to question the king's service, and 
 to derive that power over foreign letters to merchants which in 
 all states is a branch of regal authority. Neither can any place 
 in Christendom be named where merchants are allowed to send 
 their letters by other bodies or posts than by those authorized 
 by the state." It would seem that Billingsley had publicly 
 announced his intention of sending a foreign post away every 
 Saturday to Flushing, Holland, and the Hanse Towns ; and 
 " thereafter, if God spared his life and health, to other places." 
 Upon this he was imprisoned, but the House of Commons 
 ordered his release. The Council then took the matter up, and 
 ordered him to desist from his scheme " till the matter could be 
 determined by law." Then ensued a suit in the law courts 
 between Lord Stanhope and the De Questers ; it lasted so long 
 
An Early Dispute. 3 7 
 
 that during the years 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 
 postmasters of Andover and Salisbury say that " not having had 
 their pay for six years, they are so indebted that they cannot 
 show their heads." 1 The dispute was not settled until after 
 Charles had been king for six years namely, in 1632 when 
 Lord Stanhope was induced to retire from the service of Chief 
 Postmaster ; the elder De Quester at the same time assigning 
 the office which he had jointly held with his son, then deceased, 
 to William Frizell and Thomas Witherings. A royal proclama- 
 tion was thereupon issued, which is curious enough to be given 
 entire : " Whereas His Majesty's father, King James, of happy 
 memory, for urgent causes did constitute an office called the 
 office of Postmaster-General for Foreign Parts, and had appointed 
 the De Questers to that office, but now the younger one having 
 died, and the elder one being aged and infirm hath made and 
 substituted William Frizell and Thomas Witherings to do all 
 things appertaining to his office, His Majesty is graciously 
 pleased to ratify this arrangement, and doth straightly charge 
 and command all his people, aliens as denizens, that none of 
 them (otherwise than the said W. Frizell and T. Witherings) 
 presume to take up or transmit packets of letters." 2 
 
 We ought not to leave this subject without saying that James 
 I. in establishing this foreign post seems to have been far more 
 anxious that Government secrets should not be disclosed to 
 foreign countries, than that the post should be of much use to 
 traders and merchants. At the same time every endeavour was 
 made to get at the secrets of other Governments who were less 
 careful of their correspondence. The proclamation of the king 
 which established the foreign post ran, that he, " 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 foreign nations, which cannot be pre- 
 vented if a promiscuous use of transmitting and taking up foreign 
 
 1 State Papers, Domestic Series, vol. xxi. 
 
 2 Rymer's Fcedera, torn. xix. p, 385. 
 
38 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 letters and packets should be suffered, forbids all others from 
 exercising that which to the office of postmaster pertaineth, at 
 their utmost perils." There was a motive for this jealous mono- 
 poly of postal communications, made clearer, perhaps, by the 
 following extract from a letter written by one of James's secre- 
 taries to the other, Lord Conway : " Your Lordship best knoweth 
 what account we shall be able to give in our place in Parliament 
 of that which passeth by letters in and out of the land, if every 
 man may convey letters as he chooseth." Sir John Coke, the 
 writer of the above, did not confine his attention to foreign 
 letters, if we may believe an English letter-writer, who, address- 
 ing a friend in Scotland, wrote : " I hear the posts are way- 
 laid, and all letters taken from them and brought to Secretary 
 Coke ; therefore will I not, nor do you, send by that way here- 
 after." 1 
 
 Witherings, upon whom the principal management of the Post- 
 office now devolved, was an active and painstaking officer ; he 
 would seem also 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 Charles's Council to 
 " settle a pacquet post between London and all parts of His 
 Majesty's dominions, for the carrying and recarrying of his sub- 
 ject's letters " the first proposal ever made in England for a 
 public letter-post. In this memorial, which justly entitles him 
 to a front rank in the number of great postal reformers, Wither- 
 ings stated some curious facts relating to the service of those 
 days. " Private letters," he 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 
 
 1 Lang's Historical Summary of the Post Office in Scotland, p. 4. lu the 
 next reign Henrietta Maria, in one of her letters to her husband, Charles I. 
 thus writes about Pym. A.S however, there was an air of treachery about these 
 letters as far as relates to the great parliamentary leader, it is difficult to say 
 whether much dependence should be placed on the fact stated in relation to 
 the Post-office : " I received yesterday," said the queen, " a letter from Pym, 
 by which he sends me word that he fears I am offended with him, because he 
 has not had a letter from me for a long time. I beg you will tell him this is 
 not the case, and that I am as much his friend as ever; but I have so much 
 business, that I have not been able to write by expresses, and by post it is not 
 safer 
 
Thomas Witherings. 39 
 
 Madrid in Spain, he shall receive answer sooner and surer than 
 he shall out of Scotland or Ireland." Witherings, from these 
 and other considerations, is led to propose that the existing 
 Government posts should be used publicly ; 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 six 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 post- 
 masters 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, " 2jdL for a single horse, 
 and 5d. for two horses per mile." In a subsequent proclamation 
 two years afterwards, a monopoly of letter-carrying was esta- 
 blished, which has been preserved ever since in all the regula- 
 tions 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 ; mes- 
 sengers 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 
 
4o Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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. 1 
 
 The first rates of postage for the new service were fixed at 
 twopence for a single letter, for any distance under 80 miles ; 
 4d. up to 140 miles ; 6d. for any longer distance in England ; 
 and Sd. 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 under- 
 taking. 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 sur- 
 rendered 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 
 
 1 Blackstone, in speaking of the monopoly in letter traffic, states that it is 
 a "provision which is absolutely necessary, for nothing but an exclusive 
 rigrht can support an office of this sort : many rival independent offices would 
 only serve to ruin one another." Com. voi. i. . 324. 
 
Edmund Prideaux. > . p r 41 
 
 Commonwealth. Two rival offices were establisl 
 and continued strife was maintained between the 
 two claimants. On one occasion, Prideaux hiinsell 
 seize the Plymouth mail which had just arrived in Loncfi 
 was proceeding to the office of the Earl of Warwick, near* 
 Royal Exchange. On another day, according to the depositions 
 of the Earl's officers, the Chester mail " was met at the foot of 
 Highgate by five persons habited like troopers, on great horses, 
 with pistols, who demanded of these deponents, ' Who hath the 
 letters ? ' saying they must have them," and they seem to have 
 kept their word. 1 Burlamachy and the Government failed to 
 restore peace. In the Committee of the Post-office, already 
 referred to, the subject was taken up, but the resolution of that 
 Committee only rendered matters more complicated. Though 
 Prideaux contrived to be made chairman of it, the Committee 
 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. It further decided against the 
 Government in the question of the monopoly of letter-carrying, 
 which the king had proclaimed in 1637. The part of the pro- 
 clamation relating to the establishment of the monopoly ran as 
 follows : 2 "And His Majesty's further will and pleasure is, that 
 from the beginning of this service or employment no other mes- 
 senger or messengers, foot-post or foot-posts, shall take up, carry, 
 or deliver any letter or letters whatsoever, other than the mes- 
 sengers appointed by the said Thomas Witherings, to any such 
 place or places. And if any post-messenger or letter-carrier 
 whatsoever shall offend contrary to this His Majesty's proclama- 
 tion, His Majesty, upon complaint thereof made, will cause a 
 severe exemplary punishment to be inflicted upon such delin- 
 quents." We may be sure that the frequent subsequent disputes 
 on this subject did not arise from any ambiguity or misreading 
 of the above proclamation. As it was, both questions which the 
 Committee reported upon were left in abeyance for two years 
 longer, 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 
 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. ii. pp. 493, 658. 
 
 2 llymer's Fcedera, torn. xix. pp. 649651. 
 
42 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 chairman of the recusant Committee of 1642, "and a barrister 
 of seven years' standing," to the office of Chief Postmaster, 
 which was virtually vacant. It is very 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 * 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 Posts 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 a very energetic and 
 thrifty manager. He is stated to have been very zealous, and to 
 have greatly improved the service at this early stage; "esta- 
 blishing," according to 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?. 
 per annum." It seems to have been clearly seen by the Par- 
 liament of that time that the Post-office would eventually pay 
 its own. expenses, and even yield a revenue ; for in deciding on 
 Prideaux's proposal, the object of its promoters is stated concisely 
 enough in one of the clauses of the Act : " 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 fully twenty years the establishment of the post 
 had been a burden on the public purse to the extent of three 
 or four thousand pounds a year. Prideaux at first was allowed 
 to take the profits of his office, in consideration of his bearing all 
 the charges, and the Government thought they had made a 
 capital bargain. In 1649, five years after his appointment, the 
 amount of revenue derived from the posts reached 5,0002. a year, 
 and a new arrangement was thought necessary. Now that the 
 fact had dawned upon the shrewd intelligences of the Common- 
 wealth that the Post-office might be made to pay well, there 
 were numerous offers to take it up in the way of a farm, and 
 thus make as much as possible out of its revenues. The practice 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. ii. 1644. 
 
The Post-office Monopoly. 43 
 
 of farming the Post-office revenue actually began in this year 
 (1650) Mr. Prideaux agreeing to pay down 5,OOOZ. a year and 
 lasted, as far as regards some of the bye posts, down to the end 
 of last century. Prideaux himself seems to have suggested that 
 the office might be farmed to the highest bidder, and some of 
 the pamphleteers of that day pounced upon him very severely. 
 One of them hoped " that the wisdom of this Parliament will not 
 so regard the wily insinuations of any man who desires to farm 
 the same upon pretence that the State wants money, when his 
 only design is to enrich himself at the nation's prejudice." 
 
 In the year .1649, a decided stand was made against the new 
 Post-office monopoly. The Common Council of London esta- 
 blished this year a Post-office for inland letters in direct rivalry 
 to that of the Parliament. The Commons, however, although 
 they had loudly denounced the formation of a monopoly by the 
 Crown, proceeded to put down this infringement of theirs with 
 uncommon vigour. The city authorities, backed, as they were 
 in those days, by immense power, stoutly denied that the Par- 
 liament had any exclusive privilege in the matter, or that it had 
 any right to meddle with them. 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 a 
 conveyance for packets and parcels. Though pressed to do so, 
 " they refused to seek the sanction of Parliament, or to have any 
 direction from them in their measure." 1 " The Common Council," 
 it is further complained by the Post-office authorities, " have sent 
 agents to settle postages by their authority on several roads, and 
 hath employed a natural Scott, who has gone into Scotland, and 
 hath there settled postmasters (others than those of 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, as often happens in relation to 
 competitive schemes, modified many of his arrangements, and 
 then resolutely applied himself to get the city establishment 
 suppressed. The Postmaster-General, who had just become 
 Attorney-General, invoked the aid of the Council of State. 
 After some debate and investigation, the Council reported that 
 " as affairs now stand, they conceive that the office of Postmaster 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, 21st March, 1649. 
 
44 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 is, and ought to be, in the sole power and disposal of Parliament." 
 This announcement being considered as settling the matter 
 decisively, the city posts were immediately and peremptorily 
 suppressed, and from this date the carrying of letters has re- 
 mained the exclusive privilege of the Crown. Though the 
 Government succeeded in thus establishing a 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 this time, but on many subse- 
 quent occasions. Pamphlets were freely written on the subject, 
 and one of them especially deserves mention, inasmuch as its 
 author bore a name now memorable in the annals of the British 
 Post-office. The title of the pamphlet sufficiently explains its 
 purport, being given as John HiWs 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. 
 4to. 1659. " He is the fittest man for the post," says Mr. John 
 Hill, " who will undertake the service at the cheapest rate, which 
 must be the best advantage to the Commonwealth ; and it is 
 hoped that the present Councillors of State will eye the good of 
 the public in this particular." 
 
 Under the Protectorate, the Post-office underwent material 
 changes. Whilst extending the basis of the Post-office, Cromwell 
 took advantage of the State monopoly to make it subservient to 
 the interests of the Commonwealth, Of this there cannot be a 
 doubt. 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 to 
 *' discover and prevent many wicked designs, which have been and 
 are daily contrived against the peace and welfare of the Common- 
 wealth, the intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated 
 except by letters of escript." 1 Through the agency of the 
 Post-office, several little matters were brought to light which 
 saved much trouble to the Privy Council of this period. Foreign 
 and home letters shared the same fate. On one occasion the 
 Venetian ambassador remonstrated openly that his letters had 
 been delayed and read, and it was not denied. Of course 
 1 Scobell's Acts and Ordinances, p. 511, anno 1654. 
 
Proceedings in Parliament. 45 
 
 English letters shared the same fate on the Continent, and in 
 this way the English people were acting only on the principle of 
 diamond cut diamond. Still the facts are as we have stated, 
 as may be more fully seen by reference to the reports of the 
 Secret Committee of the Post-office on letter-opening in 1844. 
 To such an extent, moreover, had this state of things been 
 carried, that a distinct clause in the Post-office Act, passed in the 
 next reign, provided that " no one, except under the immediate 
 warrant of one of our principal secretaries of state, shall presume 
 to open any letters not directed unto themselves." It would 
 have been well had no such provision been made, or so long 
 continued in existence, for a system of espionage was thus 
 settled which has always been abhorrent to the nature and 
 feelings of Englishmen. But we are doing but scant justice to 
 the Council of the Commonwealth, inasmuch as they only fol- 
 lowed the course of previous governments, and gave public 
 intimation of so much of their intention, which other govern- 
 ments had not done. In other respects also great improvements 
 were introduced. The Post-office now for the first time became 
 the subject of parliamentary enactments, the Acts passed during 
 the interregnum becoming the models for all subsequent measures. 
 In the year 1656, an Act " to Settle the Postage of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland" was passed, and henceforth the Post- 
 office was established on a new and broad basis. The account 
 of the third reading of this Act is of sufficient interest and 
 importance to be partly quoted here. 1 The Bill having been 
 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 moneys shall be disposed of, and that our 
 letters shall pass free." 
 
 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 laid open to public view, as occasion is." 
 1 Burton's Diary of the Parliament of Cromwell, vol. iii. 
 
46 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Sir Christopher Pack is 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 A'ct." 
 
 Colonel Sydenham said : " I move that it may be committed 
 to be made but probationary ; it never being a law before" 
 
 The Bill was referred to a committee, and subsequently it 
 passed nearly unanimously. It was ruled that there " shall be 
 one General Post-office, and one officer styled the Postmaster- 
 General 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 were made to this prohibitory clause in favour of 
 the Universities of Oxford arid Cambridge, " who may use their 
 former liberties, rights, and privileges of having special carriers 
 to carry and re-carry 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 ancients rights of sending their own 
 post to and from London shall remain intact." 
 
 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 energies. However it was, we hear no more of him in 
 connexion with the Post-office after his victory over the for- 
 midable City magnates. At the Restoration, Prideaux retired 
 to his native Cornwall, in the possession of considerable wealth ; 
 much of it, we may reasonably assume, the result of his prudent 
 management of the Post-office revenue. During the remaining 
 years of Cromwell's life, these revenues wonderfully augmented 
 by Prideaux's care and forethought were farmed for the sum 
 of 10,000. a year, to a Mr. John Manley. In the words of the 
 grant, "the office of postage of letters, inland and foreign, is 
 hereby given, September, 1654, to John Manley, Esq. for a 
 term, under a yearly rent and conditions, with several powers 
 and privileges." 1 During Manley's tenure of office, the proceeds 
 1 Scobell's Acts and Ordinances, p. 358, anno 1654. 
 
" The Post-office Charter" 47 
 
 must either have increased with marvellous rapidity, or the con- 
 tracts were greatly under-estimated ; for when, in 1659, Manley 
 left the Post-office, he calculated that he had cleared in that and 
 the previous year, 14,OOOZ. annually. A parliamentary com- 
 mittee, in 1660, instituted a strict scrutiny into the proceeds of 
 the office in the first year of the Kestoration ; at which period it, 
 of course, became necessary that a new postmaster 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 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,OOOZ. 
 
 Mr. Henry Bishop was appointed Postmaster-General at the 
 Eestoration, on his entering into a contract to pay to Govern- 
 ment the annual sum of 21,500?. In a book of curious proclama- 
 tions, &c. presented to the British Musuem by George III. there 
 is one, dated 1660, relating to this appointment, and issued by 
 Charles II. "for the quieting the Postmaster-General in the 
 execution of his office." In this order, or " indenture," as it is 
 called, all other persons except those employed by " our trusty 
 and well-beloved Henry Bishop, Esq. our new Postmaster- 
 General," are forbidden to carry or interfere in any way with the 
 carriage of letters, " as they shall answer at their utmost perils." 
 In the same proclamation, the king "exempts and discharges" 
 all officers connected with the Post-office from serving upon 
 juries, inquests, musters, or any public employment or attend- 
 ance, " so that they may be the better able to attend to their 
 important business." 
 
 The settlement of the Post-office, made under the Common- 
 wealth, was confirmed in almost all its particulars on the return 
 of the Stuarts to power. The statute 12 Car. II. c. 35, re-enacts 
 the ordinance of Cromwell ; and on account of its being the 
 earliest recognised statutory enactment, was 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 maintenance of mutual corre- 
 spondencies and prevention of many inconveniences happening by 
 private posts, several public post-offices have been heretofore 
 
48 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 erected for carrying of letters by post to and from all parts and 
 places within England, Scotland, and Ireland, and several parts 
 beyond the seas, the well ordering whereof is a matter of great 
 concernment, and of great advantage, as well for the preservation 
 of commerce as otherwise, Be it enacted, &c." The monopoly of 
 post-horses for travelling was re-secured under 12 Car. II. c. 35, 
 and it will be well to bear this fact in mind, as it brought a 
 considerable item to the net revenue of the Post-office, and helps 
 to account for the rapid increase in that revenue. By a clause 
 in the act referred to, no traveller could hire horses for riding 
 post from any but authorized postmasters. Lord Macaulay 
 states that there was an exceptional clause to 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 ;" but this 
 must have been an arrangement made by some supplementary 
 statute. The Act in question remained in force, under certain 
 limitations, until 1779. 
 
 We have now arrived at an interesting period in the history 
 of the Post-office. At the Restoration, the institution rose into 
 some degree of eminence ; Acts were passed for its management 
 more frequently than ever, inasmuch as its bearing on every 
 relationship of life had become a matter beyond question. 
 Vague and imperfect before, the materials for the history of this 
 department of State are, from this time, full and minute, and all the 
 incidents and circumstances relating to its management are care- 
 fully preserved. We may now describe the Post-office with great 
 particularity of detail, with what amount of interest the reader 
 will, of course, be the best judge. From the time of James II. 
 to the present day, the records of the Post-office have been kept 
 with scrupulous care, and we regard it as no small privilege to 
 have been allowed to examine them. It has, since 1684, been 
 the invariable custom to chronicle the most minute details in 
 the official letter-books, and these books have been preserved 
 in an almost unbroken series at the General Post-office. For 
 several years previously the papers and documents relating to 
 the Post-office, in common with all other departments of Govern- 
 ment, are quite as carefully preserved in the archives of the State- 
 Paper Office ; and thus, thanks to the care of the authorities, 
 and the labours of such diligent students of history as Mr. 
 
Petitions to the Treasury. 49 
 
 Brewer, Mr. Bruce, and Mrs. Green, we are not without light for 
 even the earlier periods of the Stuarts' dynasty. The papers 
 relating to the Post-office, for instance, calendered by Mrs. 
 Green, 1 are extremely interesting, and some are in the highest 
 degree amusing. They principally consist of requests and 
 petitions to the Privy Council or the Commissioners of the 
 Treasury. The burden of most of them is that of suffering 
 under the iron rule of Cromwell ; of rejoicing now that Charles 
 has got his own again ; with everybody loyal to a fault. Thus, 
 John Oldcombe wants to be postmaster of Staines, and assures 
 the Council that the postmaster who then shared the troubles and 
 emoluments of that office, " is a dangerous man, put in by that 
 tyrant Oliver." No more in fear of Cromwell, who hangs a 
 scarecrow on the gibbet near Tyburn turnpike, George Cooling 
 asks to be restored to the office of postmaster of Doncaster, from 
 which he was dismissed by "the late pretended Protector." 
 Then Richard Rosser, of Exeter, wants to be made postmaster 
 of that place, and writes in a taking, lachrymose vein. " He 
 has been a constant sufferer from the tyranny of His Majesty's 
 enemies." He would never have mentioned his sufferings " in 
 the great joy of the Restoration," but for his wife and children 
 " those patient partakers of all his troubles." The bait does not 
 take, so Rosser tries the double fly. He tells the Secretary of 
 State that he will be glad to take either Exeter or Plymouth. 
 He also says that he " was the first man in Exeter to be taken 
 up and imprisoned on all occasions during the late troubles, and 
 has had his estate detained during 16 years, yet constantly pro- 
 vided for all prisoners sent to the gaol for loyalty." Sometimes 
 the answer returned is recorded, but there does not appear to 
 have been any return made to Rosser for all his services and 
 sufferings, despite his importunities. Like all sycophants, he 
 seems to have overdone it, even for the chartered libertines of 
 the Restoration. James Dawson asks for little, and we are glad 
 he was not refused. He wishes to carry the post letters, as a 
 bye post, between Leeds and Ferrybridge. His father was a 
 man of property, but Lord Fairfax had destroyed it all at the 
 siege of Leeds. 
 
 1 Calendar of State Papers of the reign of Charles IL Domestic Series. 
 16601669. ' 
 
50 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Major Hugh Pennant 1 writes to Secretary Nicholas for the 
 postmastership of Holyhead, which his "knowledge of Wales 
 and Ireland would enable him well to discharge." In the reign 
 of the king's father he was very loyal, and as a return for his 
 loyalty, was "sequestered, imprisoned, and obliged to fly the 
 country." 
 
 No dbubt but that the officers put into place during the 
 Commonwealth would have a hard time of it, and be closely 
 watched, whether deserving men or not. In 1662, Colonel 
 Slingsby, the governor of the Isle of Wight, writes to the 
 Council that he "has suspended the postmaster there as a 
 schismatical knave, put in by the Eump officers, through whom 
 several packets have miscarried," and requests his dismissal, that 
 way may be made for some one more loyal. 
 
 One important resolution in Parliament, at the end of the 
 session in which the Post-office Bill was earned, augurs better 
 for the well-being of the deserving official : for it sets forth 
 that the Post-office being now settled so satisfactorily, " such 
 of the persons who have contributed their pains in improve- 
 ment of the office be recommended to the King's Majesty 
 for consideration to be had of the pains therein taken accord- 
 ingly." Let us hope (for we find no further mention of the 
 matter) that all concerned got their deserts. Tardy as the 
 English Government was, compared with its continental neigh- 
 bours, in rearing the institution of the post, the foundation of an 
 establishment was now laid which has for many years distanced 
 all competitors in its resources, and in the matter of liberal pro- 
 vision for the people. In rewarding, therefore, those who con- 
 tributed so much to this success at this early period in the 
 history of the establishment, King Charles would simply pay a 
 first instalment of the debt which future generations would owe 
 to them. 
 
 Mr. Bishop remained at the head of the Post-office, notwith- 
 standing that several powerful claimants, such as Mr. Frizell and 
 a nephew of Witherings, who had been supplanted during the 
 Commonwealth, put in petitions. But he was left undisturbed 
 for only about two years. In 1662 he was dismissed for certain 
 
 1 A progenitor of the present Colonel Pennant, of that locality, in all 
 probability. 
 
Bishop and O'Neale. 5 1 
 
 malpractices, and in March, 1663, the office of Postmaster- 
 General is granted to Daniel O'Neale, groom of the bedchamber, 
 as the king's warrant describes him, for the term of seven years. 
 O'Neale engaged to pay the same rental as Bishop, in consider- 
 ation of which he took all the profits. The indenture drawn 
 out on the occasion, which, like all others of the period, is 
 carefully preserved in the State Paper Office, * further ordered 
 him " to give in a catalogue of all officers employed by him ; 
 to dismiss all those excepted against by a Secretary of State, to 
 whom all alterations in postage or erection of post-stages are to 
 be submitted." On the other hand, the Government engaged to 
 make allowances for losses in the revenue, " in case of plague, 
 civil war, or any defects in his grant, with liberty to surrender 
 his office at three months' notice." As O'Neale had the office 
 over the disastrous years of the Plague and the Great Fire, when 
 the Post-office was burned down, it must have been considered a 
 fortunate circumstance that such a reservation was made in his 
 contract. 
 
 At the end of O'Neale's term of office (but after a fresh 
 contract had been entered upon) the House of Commons took 
 advantage of the occasion 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 in the revenue, as well as in the best management of the 
 department." They said that it was evident that the revenue of 
 the office was increasing at a greater rate than had been paid for 
 the farm for several years past. They pray that the office may 
 be given to the highest bidder. His Majesty replies that he is 
 not satisfied with the hands in which it has been. Notwith- 
 standing 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 would almost welcome a change. 
 When a fresh term was 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 
 1 State Papers, Charles II. 16601669, 
 E2 
 
5 2 ' Her Majesty's Mails, 
 
 will not be fit to give it to him that bids most, because a dis- 
 honest or disaffected person is likeliest to exceed that way." 
 There cannot be a 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. 
 
 But we are to some extent anticipating matters. Complaint 
 was made early in the reign of Charles II. that a wholesale 
 system of letter-opening had been started at 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 another proclamation " for quieting the 
 Postmaster-General in his office," and spoke out decisively 
 against letter- opening without sufficient warrant from the Secre- 
 tary of State. Nor should we forget to state that no means were 
 spared to make the Post-office fruitful during the reign 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. 
 In 1663, the Turnpike Act made its first appearance on our 
 Statute-book, and we may get from the preamble to this useful 
 Act some idtea of the impediments which existed at that time to 
 postal communications. It sets forth that the great North Road 
 the main artery for the post-roads and the national intercourse 
 was in many parts " very vexatious," " almost impassable," 
 and " very dangerous." The Turnpike Act provided for needful 
 improvements, and was the beginning of legislation on that 
 subject. 
 
 In 1675, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Charles II. an 
 Act was passed entitled " an Act for settling the profits of the 
 Post-office, and a power of granting wine licenses, on His Royal 
 Highness the Duke of York, and his heirs male in perpetuity." 
 In 1674, the revenue was farmed at 43,000?. per annum, and two 
 years afterwards Sir William Petty calculated that since 1635 
 the number of letters had increased in the proportion of 20 to 1. 
 In 1685, the net revenue had increased to the sum of 65,000?. 
 per annum ; so that if twenty years before it was an object to 
 keep it from the public, it was more so now than ever. In the 
 last-mentioned year, when the Duke of York became James II. 
 
The Duke of York. 53 
 
 he not only still kept the revenue in his own hands, but he 
 obtained an Act in the first year of his reign, securing it to 
 himself, with a proviso that it should hereafter be to him, his 
 heirs, and successors, one entire and indefeasible estate in fee 
 simple, and that therefore as such its revenues were not to be 
 accounted for to Parliament. We may as well say here that at 
 the Eevolution the Parliament resumed the grant, and nominally 
 did away with it, yet the king still received the money, and left 
 no authentic records of the amounts behind him. With Queen 
 Anne, as we shall see, the matter was put on a much more 
 satisfactory basis. 
 
 Within the last two years of the reign of Charles, a penny 
 post was set up in London, the consideration of which we will 
 defer to another chapter. It only remains here to state that 
 Charles commenced the practice of granting pensions out of the 
 Post-office revenue. Just before he died he desired his brother 
 to make provision for Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland, 
 one of his mistresses, out of the Post-office receipts. James II. 
 in the same year he ascended the throne, acted on the wishes 
 of the " merry monarch " by granting her a pension of 4,700/. 
 a year. This pension was paid to the Dukes of Grafton as her 
 representatives up to the year 1856, when 91,181Z. 17s. 7d. was 
 paid down to the present duke to redeem the grant. 
 
54 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE POST-OFFICES OF ENGLAND AND THE SISTER COUNTRIES 
 UP TO END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 THE penny Post-office referred to at the conclusion of the 
 last chapter was originated in 1683 for the conveyance of 
 London letters and parcels, by Mr. Kobert Murray, an uphol- 
 sterer. Like many other persons living at that time, Murray 
 was dissatisfied that the Post-office had made no provision for 
 the carrying of correspondence between the 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 great 
 cost, was soon assigned to Mr. William Dockwra, 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?. in value, or parcel worth not more than 10?. might 
 be conveyed at a charge of one penny in the city and suburbs, 
 and of 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 prin- 
 cipal streets. Stow says 1 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 this old chronicler, "gather 
 them every hour, and take them to the grand office in their 
 respective districts. 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 and eight times 
 a day ; even in the outskirts as many as four deliveries were 
 
 made. 
 
 1 Sureeye of London, vol. ii. 
 
The Penny Post-office. 55 
 
 The penny post was soon 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 settle- 
 ment made to him, complained of it as an infraction of his 
 monopoly. Nor were there wanting other reasons, inducing the 
 Government to believe that it was wrong to allow the penny 
 post to continue under separate management from the General 
 Post. The Protestants loudly denounced the whole concern as 
 a contrivance of the Popish party to facilitate the communi- 
 cation of their plans of rebellion. The famous Dr. Gates 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. 1 
 The city porters, too, complained that their interests were 
 attacked, and long tore down all the placards they could reach 
 which announced to the public the establishment of this inno- 
 vation on their rights. The Government, however, seems to 
 have thought little of all the clamour, although undoubtedly 
 moved at the success of the undertaking. Hence the appeal to 
 the Court of King's Bench, which decided that the new office 
 with all its profits and advantages should become part and 
 parcel of the royal establishment. Docwra was even cast in 
 slight damages and costs. Thus commenced at the General 
 Post-office the branch long known as the " London District 
 Office," which existed as a separate establishment from this 
 time until 1854. At the accession of William and Mary, Mr. 
 Docwra was appointed to the office of Controller of the District 
 Post. This was meant as some sort of compensation for his 
 losses, and was recommeifded by a committee of the House of 
 Commons. In the third year of the reign of the new sovereigns, 
 a writ of Privy Seal was issued granting Docwra a pension of 
 500Z. a year for seven years, "in consideration of the good 
 services performed to the Crown in inventing and settling the 
 business of the penny Post-office." 
 
 We do not find that James II. made any grants of pensions 
 
 during his short reign out of the Post-office revenue. He 
 
 doubtless required all the money he could raise ; often in reply 
 
 to claims of payment, the petitioners of this period are told that 
 
 1 Macaulay't History, vol. i. pp. 387, 388. 
 
56 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 their just demands shall be attended to when " His Majesty's 
 affairs become less pressing." Under William and Mary the 
 pressure cannot have been so great, for their Majesties con- 
 siderably augmented the list of pensioners. 1 In 1694 the list 
 stood thus : 
 
 Duchess of Cleveland 4,700 
 
 Earl of Rochester 4,000 
 
 Duke of Schomberg 4,000 
 
 Duke of Leeds . 3,500 
 
 Earl of Bath 2,500 
 
 Lord Keeper Soniers 2,000 
 
 William Docwra 500 
 
 The pension to Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, was given 
 from " a grateful sense of numerous good services performed," 
 especially in the office of Lord High Treasurer, and at the 
 Revolution ; that to Leeds, of 3,500Z. was " for negociating our 
 royal marriage." The writ of Privy Seal granting the pension 
 of Sir John Somers, Knight, Keeper of the Great Seal, dated 
 15th of May, 1694, sets forth that it is given "for the better 
 and more honourable support and maintenance of him during 
 his custody of our Great Seal." The grant to Maynard, Duke 
 of Schomberg and Leinster, deserves more attention, considering 
 that the pension is still paid in great part, and little is known 
 or remembered of the circumstances under which it was granted. 
 The wording of the writ of Privy Seal, dated February, 1694, is 
 more full and particular than in any previous case. 2 We extract 
 the following : 
 
 
 
 1 In considering the subject of these Post-office pensions and it is the cus- 
 tom to speak very severely concerning; them respect should be had to the 
 undoubted fact that the revenues of the Post-office then belonged to, and were 
 at the sole disposal of, the sovereign. In rewarding faithful services (and 
 surely William and Mary set an admirable example in this respect ; though 
 evidently mistaken in his estimate of Carmarthen (Leeds) his recognition w:is 
 just and appreciative of the sterling qualities of Lord Somers, so justly 
 eulogized in the glowing pages of Macaulay, and of the almost pious attach- 
 ment of Schomberg) they only displayed their munificence with what was 
 really their own. This is worthy of praise rather than blame. After Anne 
 had pensioned Marlborough, no other grant was made from the Post-office 
 receipts, inasmuch as Parliament now fully claimed the control of the revenue 
 derived from this branch of the public service. 
 
 2 Book of Warrants and Grants, 16901698. 
 
Post-office Pensions. 
 
 ^ /c - 57 
 
 igland, taking into 
 
 " Whereas, soon after our accession to tlie crown of Englal.^ _. n f 
 our princely consideration the great, faithful, and acceptable seNfH<eOte us v > 
 performed by Frederick, Duke of Schomberg, last Master-GeneraTbfJwfy 
 Ordnance, and Captain-General of our land forces (since deceased), and mOTe^ 
 especially reflecting upon his most prudent conduct under us, not only in the 
 hazardous attempt which we have made unto this kingdom for redeeming the 
 same from popery and arbitrary power, but also in his continued endeavours 
 to serve us, in order to the completing a prosperous, happy, and settled con- 
 ditions of affairs in our kingdom." The warrant then goes on to describe the 
 great losses and the destruction of his castle on the continent " sustained on 
 account of his professing the Protestant religion," and these and other most 
 weighty considerations, disposing them " to confer upon the said duke and 
 his posterity a reward for his merit which might create a lasting remembrance 
 of the gracious sense we had of his services," " we therefore fully resolved and 
 determined to bestow upon the said duke the full sum of 100,000/. which sum 
 was to be laid out in the purchasing of lands of inheritance. But the grant 
 which was intended by us as aforesaid not passing under our great seal by 
 reason of the sudden departure of the said Duke Frederick for the kingdom of 
 Ireland, where he was slain in our service at the memorable battle of the 
 Boyne, and also by reason that the necessity of our affairs would not admit 
 the speedy payment of so considerable a sum of money, we were graciously 
 pleased to allow to Charles, late Duke of Schomberg, (who hath been also 
 slain in our service at the battle of Marsaglia in Piedmont) the sum of 4,000/. 
 per annum, as interest or forbearance of the sum of 100,000^. We, therefore, 
 reflecting upon the great merits of the said duke, and being no less sensible 
 of the good, faithful, and constant services to us performed by Maynard, now 
 Duke of Schomberg (third son of Frederick, and brother of Charles), resolve 
 that he shall receive the like allowance of 4,000/. per annum, and to continue 
 till we can pay or satisfy the sum of 100,000." 
 
 This sum has never been satisfied, the pension having been 
 paid by the Post-office to, the heirs of the duke up to the year 
 1856, when 20,0007,. were paid to redeem a fourth part of the 
 pension or grant, the burden of the remaining part being then 
 transferred to the Consolidated Fund. We may as well say 
 here that among the subsequent pensions granted out of the 
 Post-office revenues, Queen Anne gave one, in 1707, of 5,OOOZ. to 
 the Duke of Marlborough and his heirs for ever ; and that this 
 pension and the one to the heirs of the Duke of Schomberg are 
 the only ones which have not been purchased or fallen in. 
 
 The pension to Docwra was made out for seven years, but he 
 held it for three years longer, on a new patent, till the year 
 1700, when he lost both it and his office, on certain charges of 
 
58 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 gross mismanagement having been brought against him. The 
 officers and messengers under his control memorialized the 
 Treasury Lords in a spirited but ill-written petition, which we 
 are here able to give from the Treasury Book of that date. The 
 following, we believe, has never before been given entire : 
 
 " The aforesaid William Docwra doth what in him lies to lessen the revenue 
 of the Penny Post Office, that he may farm it or get it into his own hands, as 
 he claims it his right, and the ways and means are as follows. Istly. He hath 
 removed the General Post Office from Cornhill, a place most proper, being 
 near the Change and in the heart of the city, to a place more remote and 
 altogether improper, whereby the messengers' walks are altered from one to 
 two hours, so that letters are delayed this time, to the great hindrance of 
 business and fatigue to the poor messengers, and 100/. charge to His Majesty 
 to fit up his house for his own convenience. Sndly. 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 in considerable advantage to this office, they 
 being now at great charge sent by porters in the city, and coaches and water- 
 men into the country, which formerly went by penny post messengers much 
 cheaper and more satisfactory. 3rdly. He stops under specious pretences 
 most parcels that are taken in, which is great damage to tradesmen by losing 
 their customers or spoiling their goods, and many times hazard the life of the 
 patient when physic is sent by a doctor or apothecary. 4th. That he takes 
 out the one half or some part of several parcels, and sends the other forward, 
 which, if not discovered, 'tis to be supposed he keeps to his own use, however 
 a great fatigue to the owner to run up and down after it. And when the 
 party do come, Mr. Dockwra will not be spoken with or is deny'd for most 
 part of the day when he is within doors, which causes persons to make several 
 journeys six or seven miles to town and back again for no purpose. Sthly. He 
 opens several letters and reads them publicly in the office, and others he takes 
 out bills and sends the letters forward without them. 6th. That he fatigues 
 and oppresses all officers and messengers (except his own creatures) belonging 
 to the six offices, that no man can live easy under him, and only to find faults 
 to turn them out that he may bring his own creatures in, as he himself declares 
 that he cannot bring his own purposes about till all Mr. Castleton's men (as 
 he calls the old officers) are turned out. 7th. That he buys all contingencies 
 (e.g. stores paid for by the authorities) himself, and sets down what he pleases 
 without control, and what he buys (as paper, packthread, pencils, &c.) are such 
 sorry stuff not fit to be used. 8th. That he takes money of the poor mes- 
 sengers when any comes in upon the death or turning out of another. 9th. 
 That the said Mr. Dockwra, with two or three officers confederate with him, 
 hath from time to time knowingly wronged His Majesty of his revenue." 
 
 And thus this catalogue of the worst abuses, stopping and 
 appropriating letters and parcels, intimidating, buying and 
 
William Docwra. 59 
 
 selling, and worrying the men is brought to a close. It gives 
 us a vivid, though evidently an exaggerated, picture of the efforts 
 of a man, somewhat unscrupulously endeavouring to get back or 
 hold his own. We cannot wonder, however, that after this 
 memorial, and some of the charges being partially substan- 
 tiated. Docwra was removed from all connexion with the depart- 
 ment. In 1702, Docwra applied himself to Queen Anne to get 
 some compensation for his losses. He stated that he had spent 
 a considerable fortune for the benefit of posterity, and now six 
 of his family of seven children are unsettled and unprovided 
 for in his old age. It is almost pitiable to read the concluding 
 paragraph in his petition to the queen, seeing how much he 
 really accomplished for posterity, though it is not wonderful that 
 it failed to produce the desired effect : " Your petitioner," says 
 poor Docwra, "prostrates himself at your Majesty's feet, the 
 throne being the refuge of the oppressed subjects and unhappy 
 sufferers ; never believing that your Majesty's incomparable 
 goodness and entirely English heart can let a faithful English 
 subject be forgot and his family languish in ruin merely for 
 doing good to his country, but that your petitioner shall find 
 speedy redress from so admirable a queen, whose piety and 
 justice, so conspicuous when in a private state, must by advancing 
 goodness as well as greatness establish the throne, and render it 
 most illustrious." 
 
 In the year 1696 we find the Postmasters-General, Sir Robert 
 Cotton and Thomas Frankland, Esq. who had succeeded Sir 
 John Wildman six years before, proposing to erect different 
 cross-posts in the country. In October of that year they propose 
 a post to go twice a week between Bristol and Exeter, estimating 
 the entire expenses at 259Z. 10s. per annum ; each postmaster of 
 the seven stages to be erected over that ground to receive on 
 the average 35Z. per annum ; the distance of sixty-five miles to 
 be performed in twenty-four hours. In making the proposal to 
 the Lords of the Treasury, the Postmasters- General proceed very 
 cautiously, and show themselves to have been shrewd and able 
 men. They tell them that if the post is established the letters 
 will have to pay but one port (postage) instead of two as 
 formerly. A letter from Bristol to Exeter, for instance, would, 
 be charged one postage from Bristol to London, and another 
 
60 Her Majesty *s Mails. 
 
 from London to Exeter ; under the new arrangement the letters 
 would not come to London at all, but would just be sent and 
 charged for the distance between the two places. " This would 
 make a serious diminution in the revenue," say they, " only the 
 number of letters will probably be so increased by the means of 
 more expeditious and direct conveyance, as not only to make up 
 for the other loss, but bring in an addition to the receipts." 
 Not only so, " but the tediousness and charge of conveying so 
 few letters under the old system is intolerable." In any case, 
 say they, and supposing it should fail as a financial scheme, the 
 new post " will be a great convenience and benefit to trade." 
 This post was established, and in the course of two or three 
 years it realized an extra revenue of four or five hundred pounds 
 annually. Encouraged by this success, another proposal is soon 
 after made to lay a similar post between Bristol and Shrewsbury ; 
 but this does not seem to have been accomplished. The cross- 
 post system was not thoroughly developed till the next generation, 
 the manner of which development will be seen further on. 
 
 From the last case, the reader will understand that the Lords 
 of the Treasury looked very sharply after the Post-office revenue, 
 and many are the instances where reasonable reforms were refused 
 on account of their being likely to reduce, even for a time, the 
 amount of money raised by the carriage of letters. About this 
 time, for example, the gentlemen of Warwick complained that 
 their letters sent from London lost many hours on account of 
 being sent through Coventry instead of direct to Warwick. The 
 Treasury Lords ask the opinion of the Post-office authorities as 
 to the propriety of a change, but they soon give a decided 
 negative to the proposal when they learn the bearing which such 
 a change will have upon the revenue. The Postmasters-General 
 remark that " the post to Warwick having constantly gone by 
 way of Coventry, each single letter to Warwick hath always 
 been charged 3d. as being above eighty miles distant. Now 
 Warwick being but really sixty-seven from London, if the post 
 should go the nearest way to it, a penny per letter must be 
 abated, which, together with the charge of setting up some new 
 stages, may amount to a loss of 200?. a year." This, of course, 
 is enough for the Lord High Treasurer, and we can scarcely hope 
 that he would relent at the shrewd words with which the Post- 
 
Reduction of Rates. 61 
 
 masters- General close their letter : " We are of opinion, never- 
 theless, that the alteration these gentlemen propose may probably 
 bring an increase of letters, and likewise be of advantage to the 
 country." It is curious and suggestive that such anomalies, 
 which the Warwick people pointed out in 1698, should continue 
 till the time of penny postage ; such, however, was the fact. 
 Had the authorities of the Post-office been blessed with a little 
 more power, seeing that there was at least the glimmering of the 
 true business principle in them, things might not have continued 
 so long crooked. In the eyes of the Lords of the Treasury, 
 however, present profits were regarded with pleasure, and con- 
 served with a strictness which no prospect of increased' future 
 revenue could beguile them into abandoning. Another remark- 
 able instance is recorded in the Treasury Book 1 of the period, 
 proving in still clearer light how much wiser the Post-office 
 authorities were than the Executive that held them in check. 
 In the year 1692, William and Mary granted a patent to a Mr. 
 Thomas Neale, "to settle post-offices in our plantations of 
 North America, " which Neale did with great success. Into the 
 interesting story of this settlement it is impossible for us here 
 to enter ; suffice it to say that Neale afterwards applied for 
 increased powers in the matter, and to settle the amount of 
 postages between different parts of North America and the West 
 Indian Islands. When the English Postmasters-General come 
 to speak of the proposals of the American deputy, they humbly 
 submit that the amounts which he puts down are too high, " it 
 having been found by experience in this office," say they, 
 " that the easy and cheap corresponding doth encourage people 
 to write letters, and that our English revenue was very little 
 in proportion to what it now is since the postage was reduced 
 from Qd. to 3d. ; the number of letters being so increased here, 
 we therefore do believe such a settlement may be attended with 
 the like effect in these parts." 
 
 The Treasury Lords were slow to sanction any measure 
 demanding much outlay, and from the frequent applications 
 which were made to them by deputy postmasters, before the 
 century closed, to remit their accounts of long standing, which 
 they were " no ways able to pay," we may imagine that their 
 i Treasury Letter Book, 1G9 11699. 
 
62 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 hands were full, and their temper somewhat soured. The 
 Treasury Letter Book relating to this reign teems with petitions 
 to the effect that the petitioners have been nearly ruined during 
 the first years of William and Mary, " through much spoiling of 
 their horses by officers riding post in the late blessed Revolution." 
 Others grumble at the lowness of their salary. For instance, Ealph 
 Kishton, late deputy-postmaster of Preston, tells the Treasury 
 Lords that " for many years he provided horses, and despatched 
 the packets between Wigan and Kendal, which is a hundred 
 north country miles, forwards and backwards, for a salary of only 
 70L per annum ; and also found horses and despatched packets 
 from Wigan to Lancaster, which is sixty-eight long miles, for a 
 salary of 50L per annum, spending his whole time with the two 
 services ; and, though your petitioner begun with a considerable 
 fortune, he is now penniless and beggared, and dismissed the 
 office because he is in arrears." He prays that his debts may 
 be remitted, and that the Postmasters-General may not be per- 
 mitted " to pursue him and put him in prison." Other deputies 
 argue that it was all very well that during the civil wars and at 
 the Revolution they should have low salaries, because they were 
 then exempted from having soldiers quartered upon them, but 
 now that the time of peace had happily come, they urge that 
 their salaries should be raised. In many instances, the Post- 
 office authorities support these prayers. Into the details of the 
 Post-office Packet Service, managed by the able and indefatigable 
 Postmasters-General of whom we have been speaking, we will not 
 here enter until we come to speak of them under Queen Anne. 
 We have already delayed long enough our notice of the Scotch 
 and Irish establishments. 
 
 Almost the first mention of anything relative to the Post-office 
 or posts in Scotland occurs in the proceedings of the munici- 
 pality of Aberdeen. 1 It would seem that long before there was 
 any regular post in Scotland, special messengers were employed 
 by different townships to carry letters certain short distances, say 
 between one town and the next adjoining principal town. In 
 the 16th century, the city of Aberdeen kept a special officer con- 
 stantly employed, who was called the " common post," for the sole 
 purpose of carrying letters; and in September, 1595, according 
 1 Chambers' Domestic Apnals of Scotland, vol. i. 
 
The Scotch Post-office. 63 
 
 to Kennedy, 1 this individual, named " Alexander Taylor, alias 
 Checkum" was ordered by the magistrates a livery of blue, with 
 the city arms painted on the left sleeve of his coat. Other 
 persons were also employed in emergencies, " and the town's 
 disbursements on this ground continue to occupy a prominent 
 place in its accounts down to 1650, if not later." The first 
 regular letter post established in Scotland was one between 
 Berwick and Edinburgh, in 1635, when Charles II. improved 
 upon the horse post of his father, as a means of forwarding the 
 Government despatches between London and Edinburgh. There 
 was previously a system of posts limited to the principal roads, 
 but the work was done but imperfectly, as we find from, the 
 Council records of the period. On the 29th of March, 1631, for 
 instance, the Lords of the Council dealt with the postmaster of 
 Haddington very severely for having lost a packet of letters 
 belonging to His Majesty. From the same case we learn that 
 the postmaster there was required to have fresh horses always 
 ready for the forwarding of such packets as might arrive at his 
 office, just as we have seen in the English arrangements of the 
 period. 
 
 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 thereupon proposed to establish a line of 
 posts between Edinburgh and Portpatrick, and Portpatrick and 
 Carlisle : the English Council, being more immediately concerned 
 in the rebellion, agreed to bear the whole expense. In the 
 Council records of that year, according to Mr. Chambers, there 
 is 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." 2 Seven years afterwards, 
 in 1649, 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. Who knows but that this circumstance gave 
 Mean favour in the sight of anti-prelatical Cromwell, who at 
 
 1 Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen, vol. i. p. 262. 
 
 2 Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 142. 
 
64 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 this time wielded the destinies of the entire island? Mean 
 seems to have borne the charges of attending to the office " with- 
 out any reasonable allowance therefor ; " and petitioning the 
 Committee of Estates to that effect, they allowed him to retain 
 k< 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." In 1654, the postage from Edin- 
 burgh to London and vice versa was lowered to 4d. by order of 
 the Council of the Commonwealth. 
 
 At the Restoration, the Edinburgh Post-office was controlled 
 by Eobert Mein, under the title of " Sole Keeper of the Letter 
 Office in Edinburgh." Mr. Lang, 1 quoting from the Privy Seal 
 Register, 16601666, says that he had held the office before, 
 i.e. during the reign of the first Charles. Charles II. bestowed 
 the office of Postmaster-General of Scotland upon Patrick 
 Graham, Esq. of Inchbrakie, with the magnificent salary of 
 5001. Scots yearly, or about 401. sterling per annum ! The 
 place, however, seems at this time to have been a mere sinecure. 
 Many improvements were made under the judicious management 
 of Mr. Mein. In 1667, a post was started between Edinburgh 
 and Aberdeen, to go twice a week " for the timous delivery of 
 letters and receiving returns of the samen" Two years after- 
 wards Inverness got dissatisfied with the want of postal com- 
 munication, when Mein was commissioned to establish a constant 
 footpost between Edinburgh and Inverness, going once a week, 
 " wind and weather serving." 2 Wind and weather serving is an 
 amusing qualification, as pointed out by Mr. Chambers, consider- 
 ing that there were only one ferry of six or seven miles, and 
 another of two miles to cross. About the same time, the Edin- 
 burgh postmaster is useful in another capacity, for in that year 
 the Privy Council grant him a warrant " to put to print and 
 publish one diurnal weekly, for preventing false news which may 
 be invented by evil and disaffected persons." 
 
 1 Historical Summary of the Post Office in Scotland, p. 4. 
 
 2 The wording of the proclamations for 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 other hand, the Scotch resoluteness of the following could 
 not well be surpassed, where a wagon was announced to leave Edinburgh for 
 Inverness " every Tuesday, God willing, but on Wednesday, whether or no" 
 
The Scotch Post-office. 65 
 
 John Graham was appointed Postmaster-General for Scotland 
 in 1674, with a salary of 1,0002. Scots, or 83L sterling, per annum. 
 The new chief, it would seem, set about his duty with great 
 spirit. He travelled much in the provinces for the purpose of 
 noticing defects in the postal arrangements, and then remedying 
 them by setting up a number of local posts. In doing all this, 
 however, he " caused himself expenses that his salary would not 
 meet," which is by no means surprising. He ran into debt, and 
 had to take money belonging to his wife to free himself from 
 his liabilities. Graham was released from his troubles by death, 
 when his wife petitioned the Privy Council to have her own 
 again with some success. No one, however, would take the 
 office after Graham, so it was put up to " public roup." 
 
 In the records of the daily outgoings and incomings of this 
 period we find much to interest and amuse ; the post-boys, from 
 the nature of their business, meeting at times with strange 
 adventures. In 1690, "the post-boy," one Andrew Cockburn, 
 forty-four years old, (most of the "post-boys" being grown 
 men) carrying the letter-bags between Cockburnspath and Had- 
 dington, was assailed by two Jacobites in masks ; one of them, 
 " mounted on a blue grey horse, wearing a stone grey coat, with 
 brown silk buttons ; the other riding on a white horse, having 
 a white English grey cloak coat." They threatened to kill the 
 man if he did not instantly deliver up " the packet, the black 
 box, and the bye bag," and he had no choice but to yield. 1 The 
 post from Edinburgh to London went frequently wrong, and 
 that owing to strange casualties. One which left Edinburgh 
 was never heard of after leaving Berwick. " A most diligent 
 search was made, but neither the boy, the horse, nor the packet, 
 has yet been heard of." It is supposed that he perished in 
 crossing the sands near the Holy Island. On another occasion, 
 the mail coining from London did not reach Edinburgh till late, 
 when it was apologised " that the post-boy, who rode one of the 
 stages, perished in the Kiver Tyne at Newcastle, the mail 
 being taken out of that river." Again, soon afterwards the 
 post-boy (another middle-aged man) "who made the stage 
 between Dunbar and Haddington, being in liquor, fell off. The 
 
 1 Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 32. " The Black Box" con- 
 tained the Government despatches. 
 
66 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 horse was found some distance away, but mail, saddle, and bridle 
 were all gone." 
 
 Under William and Mary, in 1695, the Scotch Post-office was 
 settled upon a new and firmer basis. It was to a considerable 
 extent amalgamated with the English office, though it was pro- 
 vided that there should be a Postmaster-General for Scotland, 
 appointed by letters patent under the Great Seal of England. 
 Postages were resettled ; all others were prohibited from inter- 
 fering with the carriage of letters, or if convicted, " to be impri- 
 soned for six days for ilk fault, and fined in the sum of six 
 pounds Scots, 'toties quoties.'" Finding that the office of Post- 
 master-General was not held in great repute, the king decided 
 upon making a grant of the whole revenue of the Scotch office, 
 as well as a salary of 300Z. sterling, to Sir Robert Sinclair, 
 of Stevenson, on condition that he would keep up the esta- 
 blishment. 1 In a year from that date Sir Robert gave up the 
 grant as unprofitable and irksome. "We will only further men- 
 tion that the robberies, such as we have just described, 
 increasing, especially in the neighbourhood of the Borders, the 
 two Parliaments of England and Scotland jointly passed Acts 
 in 1698 and 1699 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, it is said, in the 
 reign of Charles I. the letters of the country were transmitted 
 in much the same way as we have already 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 are left 
 to picture in our minds the way in which correspondence would 
 then be transmitted. In the sixteenth century, mounted mes- 
 sengers were employed carrying official letters and despatches 
 to different parts of Ireland. Private noblemen also employed 
 their "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 
 1 Mr. tang's Historical Summary, p. 8. 
 
The Irish Post-office. 6 7 
 
 his letters to the Earl of Desmond and let him privately read 
 them, and afterwards demurely delivered them according to 
 their addresses. 1 
 
 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 the Vice- 
 regal Court at 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 6d. fresh rates being 
 imposed for towns in the interior of Ireland. A new line of 
 packets was permanently established at the Revolution, to sail 
 between Port Patrick and Donaghadee ; forming an easy and 
 short route between Scotland and the north of Ireland. For 
 many years the mail was conveyed in an open boat, each trip 
 across the narrow channel costing the Post-office a guinea. 
 Subsequently a grant of 200L was made by the English Trea- 
 sury in order that a larger boat might be built for the service. 
 
 Of the details of the Irish service up to the end of the 
 seventeenth century we have been unable to find much of interest. 
 The annals are so bare and meagre that, after considerable 
 search, we are inclined to doubt, with Mr. Trollope, whether the 
 early Irish Post-office has any annals at all. Certainly all we 
 have found consists of correspondence with the English office, 
 preserved among the records at St. Martin's le Grand. A 
 petition which George Warburton, Esq. the Deputy Postmaster- 
 General for Ireland, addressed to the Lords of the Treasury 2 
 towards the close of the reign of William III. is replete 
 with interest, and is of much historical importance. From 
 this document we not only get some curious glimpses into the 
 Post-office management at that time, but a graphic picture of 
 the " state of Ireland." It is only necessary to premise that 
 
 1 Letters and Despatches relative to the talcing of the Earl of Ortnond, by 
 0'More,A.D. 1600. 
 
 2 Treasury Letter Book, 16911699. 
 
 F2 
 
68 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Mr. Warburton was " manager of the Irish office " from 1683 
 until James II. visited Ireland on his accession to the throne. 
 According to Warburton himself, James, finding him " a strict 
 Protestant," turned him out and put in a Papist ; on King 
 William's visit to Dublin, " after the rout of the Boyne," he 
 restored Warburton, and he with great ability and diligence 
 discharged the duties of his office up to the time of which we 
 are speaking. During his first tenure of office, however, he had 
 contracted a serious amount in arrears still standing against 
 him and he now petitions the Treasury to have it remitted on 
 the following grounds. The postmasters of Ireland were in debt 
 to him, " because they necessarily required to be trusted ; yet 
 the debts would not have amounted to near what they did, but 
 by the failure of Protestant postmasters and others by the 
 oppression of the Papists after the arrival of Tyrconnell at the 
 Government, who turned many of them out of their places, 
 appointing Papists to be entertained (sic), who neither were of 
 ability to make payments, most of whom are either now dead or 
 by the misery of the war made poor and insolvent." This cir- 
 cumstance accounts for one little item in the arrears, but there 
 were other reasons for the discrepancy. The Postmaster-General 
 would be allowed, in the ordinary course of business, certain 
 sums for " State " letters, overtaxings, and insolvent or dead 
 letters ; these sums to be deducted from the gross amount of 
 his bill. "But your petitioner is not able to make out all 
 these particulars by reason of the distraction and confusion of 
 these times. Numbers of insolvent (that is, dead and returned) 
 letters some time before and after the Revolution being very 
 great, for that there were many letters and packets directed 
 to Protestants, which they durst not ovm to ; others were 
 embezzled by the said Popish Government, who, distrusting your 
 petitioner, sometimes before and always after the Revolution, 
 opened the mails at the castle among themselves, taking what 
 letters they pleased in favour of their cause, without any regard 
 to your petitioner being accountable for the same." Well might 
 the Postmaster-General be in arrears under such circumstances ! 
 He then prays the Treasury Lords to take these facts into their 
 consideration ; to think of his losses and his sufferings, and the 
 extraordinary trouble he has had in the execution of his office ; 
 
The Irish Post-office* 69 
 
 the great danger and hazard which he has outlived, and remit 
 the old arrears. Their lordships send his petition to the Post- 
 masters-General the same shrewd men of whom we have 
 already spoken who readily certify to the correctness of the 
 Irish Deputy's historical statements, though they confess they 
 cannot understand his figures ; " for," say they, " several of 
 the sums are made up only by computation, and it is impossible 
 by letter to receive such satisfaction to several particulars in the 
 said account, as if the postmaster was examined vivd voce" 
 As however Mr. Warburton is still Deputy Postmaster, " and 
 his coming over here would be of ill consequence to His 
 Majesty's service," they suggest that the Auditor-General might 
 send some one over to examine the accounts and report to their 
 lordships. This was done to the satisfaction of the Treasury 
 Lords, and the Postmasters-General, in a final letter, warmly 
 espouse Warburton's case. " The late King James, looking 
 upon him as a man not at all in his interests, thought fit to 
 remove him, whereupon the petitioner intended to have come to 
 England, as several others of the Protestants of that time did, 
 but the present Earl of Rumney having signified to Warburton 
 that he would be better able to serve King William (then 
 Prince of Orange) in Ireland than in England, he remained ;" 
 not altogether, as we have seen, to his peace and comfort. 
 Mr. Warburton's petition was granted. 
 
 We find abundant proof among the records that Warburton 
 and his subordinates suffered for their Protestantism. Never- 
 theless, from the circumstances under which the Deputy Post- 
 master-General closed his official career, there is room to doubt 
 whether his standard of integrity was a high one. " In 1703," 
 in the words of the English chiefs, "he absconding himself 
 became a bankrupt, to the surprise of all that knew him, he 
 being reputed a man of considerable state, and having been in 
 our employment near thirty-seven years, and several times a 
 member of parliament in that kingdom." It was calculated that 
 he had made away, altogether, with at least 6,OOOL of the public 
 money. Mr. Isaac Manley, the Controller of the English Letter 
 Office, was sent over to report on the state of the office. His 
 report is so lucid and interesting that we regret our want of 
 space to reproduce it here. He found the whole establishmen 
 
70 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 so full of abuses and "inconsistencies," that he was led to 
 propose an entire change of plan and mode of working. The 
 Postmasters-General thought well of his proposals, and asked 
 him to remain till he had set things to rights. Subsequently, 
 but only after the Treasury Lords had agreed to give more 
 salary, Mr. Manley is permanently appointed to the place. 
 
 In the same year 1703, Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of 
 Thanet, gets a grant from the queen to erect a penny Post-office 
 in Dublin, similar to the one in existence in London. 
 
Expeditious Travelling. 71 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 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 communi- 
 cations 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 inde- 
 fatigable in his exertions to open out the resources of his king- 
 dom. 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 metro- 
 polis, or in some other equally useful scheme. The troubles 
 of the succeeding reign had the effect of frustrating the develop- 
 ment of various schemes of public utility proposed and eagerly 
 sanctioned by James. Under the Commonwealth, and at in- 
 tervals during the two succeeding reigns, many useful improve- 
 ments of no ordinary moment were carried out. 
 
 In the provinces, though considerable advances had been 
 made during the century, travelling was still exceedingly diffi- 
 cult. In 1640, perhaps the Dover Road, owing to the extent 
 of continental traffic constantly kept up, was the best in 
 England ; yet three or four days were often consumed in the 
 journey between Dover and London. In that year, Queen 
 
7 2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Henrietta and household were brought " with expedition " over 
 that short distance in four long days. Many remarkable exam- 
 ples of expeditious travelling are on record, notwithstanding. 
 One case related by Clarendon proves that rapidity of com- 
 munication was comparatively easy when speed was a vital 
 necessity. When Charles I. was living at York, gentlemen 
 couriers engaged to travel the distance between London and 
 York with his letters to and from his Council. " It was a 
 wonderful expedition that was then used," says the royalist 
 historian, " between London and York, when gentlemen under- 
 took the service, as enough were willing to do ; insomuch, as 
 when they despatched a letter on Saturday night about twelve 
 at night, they received always the king's answer, Monday by 
 ten o'clock of the morning." 1 So that these couriers usually 
 accomplished the distance between London and York and back, 
 or near 500 miles, in thirty-four hours. Well might Mr. Forster, 
 who also quotes the account in his Grand Remonstrance, say 
 that it is remarkable to us even in these days. Clarendon also 
 relates that Charles I. lost the services of his English fleet at 
 the breaking out of the Eebellion, partly by the over haste of 
 Mr. Edward Villiers, one of his pages, and partly by the sailing 
 of a portion of the fleet. Villiers, " whose dexterity and dili- 
 gence as a gentleman messenger His Majesty found fit for any 
 trust," had to travel to the Downs with letters to the captains 
 to obey the orders of Sir John Pennington, and not the Earl 
 of Warwick. Another messenger, sent to London with letters 
 revoking the Earl of Northumberland's Commission of Lord 
 High Admiral, was directed "not to make such haste, but 
 that Villiers might be at least as soon at the Downs as he 
 in London." Had this arrangement, the particulars of which 
 are minutely related, not miscarried, Villiers having done his 
 work much too quickly, " it is very probable," says Clarendon, 
 " that the king had been master of many of his ships again." 2 
 
 Persons travelling for pleasure or on account of the exigencies 
 of trade and commerce fared but badly from the state of the 
 roads at this period. Short journeys were accomplished in 
 a reasonable time, inasmuch as little entertainment was required. 
 
 1 Clarendon's L>fe, vol. i. p. 135. 
 
 2 History of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 524. 
 
Difficulties in Travelling. 73 
 
 It was different when a long journey was contemplated, seeing 
 that generally the hostelries afforded but sorry accommodation. 
 Whittaker tells us 1 that when the noble family of Clifford 
 required to travel between their houses at Skipton and West- 
 moreland, which they did twice a year, they had sad work of it, 
 though they chose the best seasons for the occasion. The roads by 
 which they journeyed were impracticable for any kind of carriage 
 except a litter for the ladies and the children. How they were 
 entertained on the way, where they slept, and how they fared 
 is matter of exceeding wonderment to their versatile and genial 
 historian, " they must have carried their own beds, as well as 
 provisions " during these annual peregrinations " of this cum- 
 brous train of hardy and ill-accommodated greatness." The 
 roads, indeed, were so bad in many parts of England 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. In 1665, Cowley 
 invited his friend Dean Sprat, afterwards his biographer and 
 Bishop of Rochester, to visit him at Chertsey. Lest the distance 
 (twenty-two miles) and the attendant difficulties should deter 
 the little man from coming, Cowley showed how he might 
 accomplish the distance quite easily in a couple of days " by 
 sleeping the first night at Hampton Town." 
 
 The innkeepers of the period were usually the postmasters 
 also, contracting to find requisite horses for the different stages. 
 They were meagrely paid, and their establishments therefore 
 would be meagre likewise ; but they were an interesting class 
 of men, some of them rivalling any Boniface on record. In the 
 works of Taylor, the Water Poet, we have a number of these 
 men described with considerable power, if not grace, of verse. 
 Taylor made a journey into Scotland in the reign of James I. 
 stopping at the hostelries on the road, and paying for his enter- 
 tainment by his exuberant and boisterous wit and anecdote. 
 The title of the account of his journey will of itself sufficiently 
 explain how he managed : The Pennyless Pilgrimage, or the 
 Moneyless Perambulations of John Taylor, alias the King's 
 Majesty's Water Poet. How he travelled on foot from London 
 to Edinburgh, not carrying any money to and fro, 
 
 1 History of Craven, p. 309. 
 t 
 
74 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 begging, borrowing, or asking Meat, Drink, or Lodging. 1 He 
 seems to have found nearly all the postmasters and innkeepers 
 unexceptionable and glad of his company, if not for themselves, 
 yet for their other guests ; free with all they had, and never 
 asking payment. 
 
 " There did my loving friendly host begin 
 To entertain me freely to his inn ; 
 And there my friends, and good associates, 
 Each one to mirth himself accommodates," 
 
 is the refrain of his song at each goodly town he enters, until 
 he conies to Huntingdon on his way back to London. At the 
 recollection of this town his muse seems to have frozen, for he 
 tells in prose how he " rode to Huntingdon, where he lodged at 
 the postmaster's house, at the sign of the * Crown ' ; his name is 
 Riggs. He came up to my chambers and supped with us (for 
 Taylor picks up a companion on his way back), and very bounti- 
 fully called for three quarts of wine and sugar, and four jugs of 
 beer. He did drink and begin healths like a horse-leech, and 
 swallowed down his cups without feeling, as if he had had the 
 dropsy, or nine pounds of spuiige in his maw. In a word, as he 
 is a post, he drank post, striving by all means to make the 
 reckoning great, or to make us men of great reckoning. But 
 in his reckoning he was tied like a jade, leaving the gentleman 
 who was with me to discharge the terrible shot, or else one of 
 my horses must have lain in pawn for his supercilious calling 
 and unmannerly intrusion." This last incident seems to have 
 gone far to mar the rhymester's pleasure during the journey : 
 still it can scarcely be thought that he did amiss. 
 
 Many improvements were made in the 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 in the better 
 highways around London. In the reign of Charles I. they had 
 increased so much that the king issued a proclamation to the 
 following effect : 2 " The King's Majesty perceiving of late 
 times the great number that are of hackney coaches kept and 
 
 1 Taylor's WorJc t 1630. Prom a fine copy in the library of Writers to the 
 Signet in Edinburgh. 
 
 2 llymer's Fcedera, torn. xix. p. 721. 
 
Stage- Coaches. 7 5 
 
 used in the cities of London and Westminster, as also the 
 general and promiscuous use of coaches in and about the said 
 cities, whereby not only a great disturbance grows to His 
 Majesty, his dearest consort the queen, the nobility and others 
 of place and degree in their passage through the streets of the 
 said cities, but the streets themselves so pestered and the pave- 
 ments broken up, as the common passage is thereby hindered 
 and made dangerous." With the advice of his Privy Council 
 he therefore prohibits " all coaches that do not travel at least 
 three miles out of the cities of London and Westminster." All 
 are prohibited from going in the coaches except the owner 
 " keep within the city four able and sufficient horses or geldings 
 for His Majesty's service whenever his occasions shall require," 
 upon pain of his high displeasure and indignation as well as 
 penalties. This prohibition was not enforced after Charles's 
 death. 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, perforce, having to walk for 
 miles together. With the York coach especially the difficulties 
 were formidable. Not only were the roads bad, but the low 
 Midland Counties were especially 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. Ralph Thoresby was more than once in danger of being 
 drowned by these floods. On one occasion he was detained four 
 days at Stamford, and then only ventured to proceed because 
 a convoy of members of Parliament, with the necessary atten- 
 dants and guides, came up on their way to London, and offered 
 him assistance. Thoresby's " Diary " is full of unlucky travelling 
 incidents. " On the Derbyshire roads," says a Mr. Browne, who 
 made a " Tour in Derbyshire" 1662, travellers were in constant 
 fear of their necks, and were frequently compelled to alight and 
 lead their beasts." 
 
 Public opinion was divided as to the merits of stage-coach 
 
76 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 travelling. When the new threatened altogether to supersede 
 the old mode of travelling on horseback, great opposition mani- 
 fested itself, and the organs of public opinion (the pamphlet) 
 began to revile it. One pamphlet, which we have seen, 1 went 
 so far as to denounce the introduction of stage-coaches as the 
 greatest evil " that had happened of late years in these king- 
 doms ; " " mischievous to the public, prejudicial to trade, and 
 destructive to lands." " Those who travel in these coaches con- 
 tract an idle habit of body ; become 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" Mr. Chamberlayn, however, 2 thought dif- 
 ferently to this anonymous writer, and in all the editions of his 
 well-known book, from 1649 to 1674, never saw fit to alter his 
 text. In speaking of the Post-office he says, that, " besides the 
 excellent arrangement of conveying men and letters on horse- 
 back, 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 countries 
 cannot make in a day." 
 
 The stage- wagon was used for the conveyance of merchandize. 
 On the principal roads strings of stage-wagons travelled to- 
 gether. Besides these conveyances there were " strings of horses," 
 pack-horses travelling somewhat quicker for the conveyance of 
 light goods or passengers, and generally on narrow paths known 
 as " pack-horse roads." About a mile eastward from Haltwhistle 
 in Northumberland, adjoining the old mail-coach road, and 
 within a hundred yards of the railway, may still be seen one 
 of these pack-horse roads of 200 years ago in a good state of 
 preservation ; thus within a stone's throw of each other we may 
 
 e Grand Concern of England Explained in several Propc 
 Harl. MSS. vol. viii. pp. 561569. 
 esent Slate of Great Britain. London. 
 
 1 The Grand Concern of England Explained in several Proposals to Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 2 Present State of 
 
Country Undeveloped. 77 
 
 have a good historical illustration of the changes which a couple 
 of centuries have seen in the means of locomotion. The stage- 
 wagon, as a rule, travelled extremely slow except on the road 
 between Liverpool and London ; they seldom changed horses, 
 using the same cattle throughout. The pace, indeed, was so 
 proverbially slow in the North of England, that the publicans 
 of Furness in Lancashire, when they saw the conductors of the 
 travelling merchandize trains appear in sight on the summit of 
 Wrynose Hill, on their way 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 ! 
 
 Whilst communication between different large towns was com- 
 paratively easy travellers passing between London and York 
 in less than a week before the reign of Queen Anne 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 now in some unknown African village. 1 So 
 it was with Camden in his famous seventeenth century Tour. 
 Camden acknowledges that he approached Lancashire, "that 
 part of the country lying beyond the mountains towards the 
 Western Ocean," from Yorkshire, with a " kind of dread" but 
 trusted to Divine Providence, which, he said, " had gone with 
 him hitherto," to help him in his attempt to learn something of 
 these English barbarians. 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 some of 
 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. Almost the only intelligence of general affairs was 
 
 l Mr. IVancis Mewburn, of Darlington, a name deservedly respected in the 
 neighbourhood where he resides, the father of railway lawyers, whose memory 
 extends to some of the years of last century, kindly informs us that lie can 
 remember such manifestations as these among the dales of Yorkshire where 
 his father resided : a model landlord by all accounts. 
 
7 8 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 a bed, was 
 often welcomed both in England and Scotland as an intelligencer 
 of the rural population. 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 bears the date of 1622. 1 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 round among 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 his immediate dependents and 
 the villagers to be summoned to his house at once, when he would 
 read to them the principal paragraphs from his porch. The 
 reader of English history cannot comprehend the facts of our 
 past national life if he does not know, or remember, how 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 cir- 
 cumstances had upon the facts themselves. We think it is Mr. 
 Froude who first hints that, under these circumstances, a rebellion 
 in one part of the country, which was likely to be popular 
 throughout the entire kingdom, might be quelled before any 
 intimation of the rising reached the adjoining county. Eemote 
 districts waited for weeks and months to learn the most im- 
 
 l Tiie Weekly Netves, edited by Nathaniel Butter. That was followed in 
 1663 by the Intelligencer of Roger L'Estrange. The. London Gazette, or as it 
 was called for the first two years, the Oxford Gazette (parliament sitting at 
 Oxford) was started in ] 665. Other papers followed rapidly, till the publishers 
 were at a loss to fill the sheets with. news. In ]695, the Flying Post was 
 established, and its publisher announced, that "if any gentleman has a mind to 
 oblige his country friend with this account of public affairs, he may have it 
 for 2rf. at the Rising Sun in Cornhill, on a sheet of fine paper; half of which 
 being blank, he may thereupon write his own business, or the material news 
 of the day." Again," Dawkes's News Letter "will be done up on good writing- 
 paper, and blank space left, that any gentleman may write his private busi- 
 ness. It will be useful to improve the younger sort in writing a curious 
 hand." The stamp duty commenced in 1712, and taxed every sheet a half- 
 penny, but did not materially lessen the numbers of newspapers. 
 
Travelling in Scotland. 7 9 
 
 portant 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 of 
 the Orkneys continued to put up the usual prayers for him for 
 months after he was beheaded ; whilst their descendants did the 
 same kind office for King James long after he had taken up his 
 abode at St. Germains. What, however, can be thought of all 
 this, extraordinary as it may seem in these days of railroads and 
 telegraphs, when it is stated that in a certain village of Lanca- 
 shire the news of the battle of Waterloo never reached the 
 inhabitants until near the first anniversary of that memorable 
 fight, when the church bells rung out rejoicing peals ! 
 
 Towards the close of the century, travelling improved in 
 Scotland, but it was still attended with great difficulty in some 
 parts. Four miles of one of the best post-roads in Scotland 
 namely, that between Edinburgh and Berwick were described 
 in a contemporary record of about this date 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 ; " more- 
 over, " strangers do often exclaim thereat," as well they might. 
 A traveller in Scotland so late as 1688, commenting on the 
 absence of stage or other coaches on most Scotch roads, says 1 
 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." He comments on the bad- 
 ness of the roads, and asks that they may be made fit for 
 vehicles. Nothing can better show the difficulties attendant on 
 locomotion of any sort in Scotland, than the fact that an agree- 
 ment was entered into in 1678 to run a coach between Edinburgh 
 and Glasgow to be drawn by six horses, the journey there and 
 1 A Short Account of Scotland. London, 1702. 
 
80 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 back to be performed in six days. The distance was only 
 forty-four miles in each direction. This undertaking was soon 
 abandoned as unprofitable, though over and above what he could 
 make, the contractor was encouraged by "a subsidy of 200 
 merks " a year for five years from the Glasgow Corporation. " As 
 the undertaking is arduous," say the magistrates, " we agree to 
 give the said William Hume this sum," on his agreeing to run 
 the coach for the period stated, " whether he have passengers or 
 not, and the burgesses of Glasgow always to have the preference 
 to the coach." 
 
 The reader who has perused the last few pages will now have 
 some idea of the difficulties which stood in the way of efficient 
 postal communication at the time to which they refer : possibly 
 he may the more clearly comprehend some of the facts of the 
 English history of that eventful century. But, at the same time, 
 he must not suppose that there was any standing still at the 
 Post-office. However much the modes of working, the means of 
 communication, 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 
 and Raleigh. 1 In Cornwall, Lincolnshire, some parts of Wales, 
 and amongst the hills and dales of Cumberland, Westmoreland, 
 and Yorkshire, letters were certainly sent but once a week, and 
 not always very regularly then ; but in our larger towns they 
 were delivered two or three times a week. Regularly every 
 summer season the London Gazette contained a notice that 
 letters would be sent daily to Tunbridge Wells, and somewhat 
 subsequently the same privilege was extended to Bath, when 
 that city was filled with pleasure-seekers in summer. There were 
 daily mails to the Downs, two packets constantly sailing from 
 Deal ; two boats sailed between England and France, three to 
 Holland, three to Ireland, and mails were sent at least once a 
 week to all these places from London. " As a masterpiece of all 
 these grand arrangements," says a contributer to the Gentleman's 
 1 History of England, vol. i. p. 388. 
 
Post-office Improvements. 81 
 
 Magazine, who describes the Post-office operations of the period, 
 " established by the present Postmaster- General, he hath annexed 
 and appropriated the market-towns 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 once a week. 
 Further, though the number of letters missive was not at all 
 considerable in our ancestors' days, yet it is now so prodigiously 
 great (and the meanest of people are so beginning to write in con- 
 sequence), that this office produces in money 60,OOOL a year. 
 Besides, letters are forwarded with more expedition, and at less 
 charges, than in any foreign country. A whole sheet of paper 
 goes eighty miles for twopence, two sheets for fourpence, and one 
 ounce of letter for but eightpence, and that in so short a time, 
 by night as well as by day, that every twenty-four hours the post 
 goes 120 miles, and in five days an answer to a letter may be had 
 from a place distant 200 miles from the writer ! " 
 
82 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 TEN years after the removal of Docwra from his office in con- 
 nexion with the Penny Post, another rival to the Government 
 department sprang up in the shape of a " Halfpenny Post." 
 The arrangements of the new were nearly identical with those 
 of Docwra's post, except that the charges, instead of a penny 
 and twopence, were to be a halfpenny and penny respectively. 
 The scheme, established at considerable expense by a Mr. Povey, 
 soon attracted the attention of the Post-office authorities ; hence 
 the following advertisement in the Gazette, November, 1709 : 
 " Whereas Charles Povey and divers traders and shopkeepers in 
 and about the city of London, and several persons ringing bells 
 (the invariable accompaniment of letter collecting), about the 
 streets of the said city, have set up, employed, and for some time 
 continued a foot-post for collecting and delivering letters, under the 
 name of the halfpenny carriage of letters, contrary to the known 
 laws of the kingdom and to the great prejudice of Her Majesty's 
 revenue." The advertisement then went on to say that informa- 
 tion had been laid in the Court of Exchequer against Povey and 
 his " ringers of bells," to recover against each of them 100Z. for 
 the setting up of the post, and 51. for the continuance of each 
 offence after this notice. In order to intimidate the offenders, 
 another advertisement appears in the Gazette soon afterwards, to 
 the effect that one Eliz. Locker had been put upon her trial for 
 ringing a hand bell and collecting letters at four different times, 
 to be carried to the General Post-office, without authorization 
 from the authorities ; and that a verdict was given against her 
 for 20/. for the four offences. Meanwhile, Povey's case is not so 
 easily disposed of ; he will listen to reason ; if his post is not 
 suppressed he will try to make some arrangements. With this 
 
Mr. Povey. 83 
 
 object he addresses the Lords of the Treasury l that if they will 
 let his messengers gather in the letters, " such as pass between 
 man and man," so far as the Penny Post goes, he would " give 
 sufficient security to pay one-tenth part more to the Postmasters- 
 General than what the Penny Post-office ever brought in." " Or 
 otherwise, if they will permit the said Charles Povey to take to 
 farm the Penny Post and the collecting of letters for the General 
 Post-office, that your petitioner would give sufficient security to 
 pay double the revenues of what the Penny Post at any time 
 brought in in clear profit." He further tells their Lordships that 
 he has made the same proposals, entering into full particulars, 
 to the authorities at the Post-office ; and that they had replied 
 to him that they did "not reject any of his proposals, but 
 thought not fit to enter upon any treaty till the question at 
 law was decided." In the meantime, Povey prints publicly an 
 account of his proposals, and part of the correspondence with the 
 authorities, which circumstance does not assist the fulfilment of 
 his designs. The Postmasters-General are asked their opinion 
 on the whole matter, and they enter at length into an account 
 of Povey's undertaking. The account contains some amusing 
 items. When they heard first of this innovation, and before 
 they had threatened him with an action at law through the 
 columns of the Gazette, they wrote to him to desist from his 
 undertaking, or they would cause him to be prosecuted. To 
 this letter Povey returned a reply, that he could not think of 
 being so unjust to himself as to lay down his undertaking at 
 their mere demand ; that his case was not like Mr. Dockwra's ; 
 " neither did we live under such a constitution as he did" He ex- 
 plains his meaning : " When the Penny Post was set up it was an 
 arbitrary Government and bribed judges," but he would now 
 stand his trial and hope for better things. Then the Chiefs tell 
 how they repeated several notices in the Gazette (which we have 
 already given), upon which Povey " printed his case in a public 
 newspaper entitled General BemarJcs" and wherein, "in a 
 ridiculing and insulting manner, he insinuated that if we were 
 concerned in composing the said notice we should be looked 
 upon by all rational men as chargeable with the highest indiscre- 
 tion." Further, waxing still more rude, Povey " affirmed that a 
 i Treasury Letter Book, 17051712. 
 G2 
 
84 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 trial in the Exchequer was all that he wanted, but he feared he 
 should never be provoked to it, since it plainly appeared that if 
 the law had been on our side we would never have published 
 such an advertisement, filled with so many bugbear expressions" 
 They comment upon his proposals ; they refer to the spirit in 
 which he has conducted the correspondence relating thereto ; 
 they tell how in negotiation he has tried to trip them up ; and 
 conclude that he is a dangerous and unsafe man to do business 
 with. " We shall be ready," say they in conclusion, " to give 
 encouragement to any proposal which, duly weighed, may appear 
 to be of advantage to the revenue ; but as Mr. Povey set up his 
 halfpenny carriage, and has continued it for several months after 
 notice given him as aforesaid, and information exhibited against 
 him ; and he having insisted upon what he calls his right, and 
 arraigning a former verdict obtained in the like case, we are 
 humbly of opinion that it is not advisable to enter into any 
 treaty with him upon his proposals till the matter be decided by 
 law." The result of the lawsuit was, that Povey was beaten 
 and cast in costs, and his posts were put down. 
 
 In 1710, the acts relating to the Post-office were completely 
 remodelled, and the establishment put on an entirely fresh 
 basis. The statutes passed in previous reigns were all 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 by Charles II. and a Post-office for Scotland by 
 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, and the mainland of 
 North America, 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 
 
Monopoly of Letter-carrying, &c. 85 
 
 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 like- 
 wise 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 style 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 
 
86 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 post with all speed, carrying and delivering of all letters and 
 packets whatsoever." The only exceptions to this clause must be * 
 
 (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. 
 
 (6) 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. 
 
 (<f) 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 
 whatsoever, 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 100L per week, or 51. for each offence. 2 
 The rates of charge for riding post are settled as follows : The 
 hire of a post-horse shall be henceforth 3d. a mile, and 4d. 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. 
 
 *. d. 
 
 For any single letter or piece of paper to any place in 
 
 England not exceeding 80 miles 03 
 
 double letter 06 
 
 packet of writs, deeds, &c. per ounce 10 
 
 single letter, &c. exceeding 80 miles, or as far north 
 
 as the town of Berwick 04 
 
 double letter 08 
 
 packet, per ounce 14 
 
 From London to Edinburgh and all places in Scotland south 
 
 of Edinburgh, per single letter 06 
 
 double letter 10 
 
 packets, per ounce 20 
 
 1 These exceptions were again made in the Act 1 Vic. c. 33. s. 2, and still 
 remain the law. 
 
 2 This clause was repealed in the reign of George II. 
 
Survey of Post-roads. 87 
 
 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 06 
 
 double letter 10 
 
 packets, per ounce 20 
 
 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 10 
 
 Spain 16 
 
 Italy 13 
 
 Turkey 13 
 
 Germany, Denmark ... 1 
 
 Sweden 10 
 
 from London to New York 1 
 
 Other rates were charged to other parts of the American con- 
 tinent, 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 maintenance of trade and commerce, and mutual 
 correspondence." 
 
 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 
 
88 Her Majesty's Mails, 
 
 must swear to perform the same to the best of their skill and 
 judgment. 1 
 
 7. Letters may be brought from abroad by private ship, but 
 must be delivered at once into the hands of the deputy post- 
 masters 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 deliver- 
 ance, 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 mem- 
 bers 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, concern- 
 ing 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 thirty-two years, the full, clear, and entire weekly 
 sum of 700Z., out of the duties and revenues of the Post-office, 
 
 i 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. 
 
The Two Postmasters-General. 89 
 
 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. 1 
 
 Of the internal arrangements of the Post-office up to this 
 period, we have already had several glimpses. The Postmaster- 
 General did not always change with the Government. The 
 " Board " was constituted something like the boards of manage- 
 ment in the Customs and the Excise ; perhaps the position and 
 duties are better represented in the secretarial staff of the 
 present day. The Secretary of the Post-office was then,*however, 
 merely a kind of principal clerk. The " grant of Postmaster- 
 General " was set forth to be " determined only by the will or on 
 the demise of the sovereign." Queen Anne granted the office 
 to the same chiefs who had been appointed by William III. 
 Of the two Postmasters-General referred to, we have more than 
 once spoken. 2 The time, however, has now arrived when we may 
 speak of them and the establishment they controlled so ably 
 with more minuteness of detail. When Queen Anne ascended 
 the throne, the chiefs had grown experienced ; they were 
 laborious, and most exact. Ever obedient in language and 
 general tone to the Treasury Commissioners, or to the Lord 
 High Treasurer when that office was not in commission to one or 
 other of which each detail of expenditure had to be submitted 
 they were very strict in exacting the most particular and circum- 
 
 1 " 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. 
 
 2 Sir Robert Cotton and Thomas TYankland, Esq. succeeded Major, after- 
 wards Sir John Wildman in 1690. Why two chiefs were appointed in place 
 of one is not clear. In the writ of Privy Seal, dated March 1st, 1699, no 
 mention is made of the fact that there had been but one previously. The old 
 wording of the grant is preserved, and the salary is divided between them. 
 Subsequently, each chief drew 1,000^. salary. 
 
po Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 stantial obedience from those under their control. Sir Eobert 
 Cotton was a grandnephew of the famous founder of the Cot- 
 tonian Library in the British Museum, and one of the band who, 
 with Sir John Eliot for leader, made the first stand against the 
 encroachments of Charles I. As the valuable library of Cot- 
 tonian MSS. was considerably augmented by the descendants 
 of the founder before it was presented to the nation, we might 
 reasonably assume, if we had no other data, that the senior 
 Postmaster-General was a man of cultivated tastes. Frankland 
 was a Yorkshire squire of good estate, who, most probably for 
 his services at the Post-office, acquired a baronetcy on the 
 accession of Queen Anne. This baronetcy has passed down to 
 Sir Thomas's descendants, who still live on a fine estate near 
 Thirsk, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. We may as well say 
 here that Sir Robert Cotton died in 1708, when a new patent 
 was granted, and Frankland was joined by John Evelyn, Esq. 
 afterwards Sir John. 1 The Postmasters-General might be mem- 
 bers of either House of Parliament, though it was several years 
 subsequently before a peer was appointed to the office. The 
 chiefs of whom we are speaking were keen electioneerers, though 
 they figured little in Parliament. Sir Thomas sat for his pocket 
 borough of Thirsk during several sessions. Sir Robert does not 
 seem to have had a pocket borough, or much estate of any kind. 
 In 1702 2 they write to the Treasury to be relieved of their 
 postal duties ; they want to get into the country " to secure 
 our interests, that we may be further capable of serving Her 
 Majesty," who had just succeeded to the throne. Soon after 
 this, a packet contractor complained to the Lord Treasurer that 
 the chiefs at the Post-office had let a contract to some other 
 persons, though he had offered to do the work on a much lower 
 tender, because one of them (Cotton) expected parliamentary 
 support from two men who had been thus favoured. The Post- 
 masters-General indignantly spurn the accusation, and indeed 
 prove its maliciousness by showing that the men had neither 
 
 1 Probably a relative of the famous diarist, but we have failed to establish 
 the point. He was certainly no relative of the Sir John Evelyn of Surrey, 
 and of the Long Parliament. Tf belonging to the diarist's family, his 
 acquaintance with Sir Stephen Fox, then of the Treasury, the progenitor of 
 the noble house of Holland, will sufficiently account for the appointment. 
 
 2 Treasury Letter Book, 16991705. 
 
Postmasters- General's Duties. 91 
 
 votes themselves nor any influence in obtaining them. 1 The 
 duties of the chiefs were exceedingly laborious, and most 
 curiously varied ; the constant attention and the unseasonable 
 hours which they were required to devote to them letters from 
 them to their agents or other subordinates bearing date from all 
 hours of the night as well as day prove them to have been 
 difficult and onerous. In a petition to the Treasury, the 
 Secretary of the Post-office asks for more remuneration (having 
 but 100Z. a year), and states that he is required "to give constant 
 attendance at the Board six days a week, the Board sitting 
 many hours every post-morning and night," while during the 
 interval he had to give effect to the orders of his chiefs, and 
 see that the business was properly transacted. His salary, we 
 may add, was doubled on the representation of the Postmasters- 
 General, who described how " immensely of late the work of the 
 office had increased." Not the lightest portion of their work 
 was their correspondence with the Treasury Lords, who had to 
 be consulted on every proposal, and who constantly required 
 the minutest information on everything submitted. On 
 a change of Government their work was increased by the 
 ignorance of the inexperienced hands placed over them ; they 
 had to explain over and over again the technical arrange- 
 ment of the office before the new Lords could comprehend the 
 items in the accounts which they were required to pass. Thus 
 the Treasury Lords would send a string of questions arising 
 out of an account furnished in regular order by the Post-office 
 officials, and would require categorical answers to the same. If 
 the details could not be brought down to the apprehension of 
 their lordships the answers would be sent back like debased 
 currency to be exchanged for better. Thus from a string of 
 such questions we take the following at random : " How comes 
 it to pass that the queen's letters come to 16,234Z. and the 
 members' letters to 328Z. ? This to be explained." " Query, If 
 Postmasters-General have power to allow salaries to agents of 
 packet boats, ad libitum, or whether there be any establish- 
 ment for them." " Was any estimate for 1,300Z. for the new 
 buildings laid before the Treasury, and is there any warrant for 
 the allowance thereof?" These examples, which are only given 
 i Treasury Letter Book, 16991705. 
 
92 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 to show our meaning, show also how tightly the Executive held 
 the purse strings. The queries were, however, quite easily and 
 satisfactorily answered. The Postmasters-General had other 
 occasions of correspondence with the Lords of the Treasury. 
 The latter were, at this period especially, literally overwhelmed 
 with petitions from those who were in debt to the Crown, or 
 from those who had, or thought they had, any grievance to 
 complain of. Invariably these memorials were forwarded to the 
 Post-office whenever they concerned that department, and the 
 authorities were required to investigate and report upon the 
 circumstances of each case. While nothing could better show 
 their business-like shrewdness than some of these reports, 
 nothing they had to do can have been attended with so much 
 labour. Most of the petitions are urgent requests that debts 
 might be reduced or altogether forgiven, or that execution, 
 which had already been ordered, might be stayed. The recom- 
 mendations made with regard to some are curious. No debt 
 by the advice of these men is entirely remitted, except there is 
 absolutely no chance of obtaining it either from the persons them- 
 selves or those who have been security for them ; very seldom 
 is it that they do not recommend a portion should be remitted 
 as an encouragement to the debtors to pay the rest. Occa- 
 sionally the motive for such advice is neither so kind nor so 
 honourable as it might have been. In one case they wind 
 up their report as follows : " The petitioner's wife informs 
 us that by the kindness and contribution of his friends he will 
 be enabled to pay 30 guineas provided the aforesaid debt of 
 73Z. may be discharged ; if your Lordships in compassion of 
 his own and his family's circumstances shall think fit to accept 
 of this proposal, we believe it will not only be an act of great 
 charity, but as much as can be recovered by law" In another 
 more important case Sir Alexander Bruce asks that some debts, 
 owing by deputy-postmasters in Scotland, may be ceded over to 
 him as payment of certain claims he has upon the Crown. 
 With regard to this proposal the Postmasters-General say that 
 they know nothing about the sums said to be owing to Bruce, 
 and " therefore we can say nothing of these particulars, as we 
 are altogether strangers ;" but they do know about the debts 
 owing to them, and have tried hard enough to get them in. 
 
Early Packet Service. 93 
 
 Knowing what they do, they heartily agree to Sir A. Bruce's 
 proposals, and seem in their letter as if they would like to wish 
 him success in his attempt to get his own in this tortuous way. 
 The reason they assign for concluding to accept the' proposal 
 may be well understood in the present day by those in the one 
 country who have money suits in the other : " Having met," 
 say they, " with so many difficulties and interruptions in the 
 process against them by the dilatory and perplexing proceedings 
 of the law of Scotland, by which obstructions we may not have 
 been able to bring the matters to any manner of issue, we are 
 humbly of opinion that if he (Bruce) have the debts, he may be 
 able when in Scotland himself, being acquainted with the law 
 there, to recover more than what at this distance we can expect 
 to recover." In one more case they recommend a reduction 
 because " it may be more advantageous considering all the 
 circumstances of the case than to proceed at law." After this 
 let no one say that our Postmasters-General were not wise in 
 their generation. Nor were they without a kind of dry humour, 
 as when one person claimed special consideration from the fact 
 of his forefathers having suffered for and under the Stuart 
 kings, they begin their report by fearing too many might 
 present such claims ; they will keep to their proper province, 
 however, " and suppose it cannot be expected of us that we 
 should be able to give any account of Mr. Blackhall's father and 
 grandfather's sufferings for King Charles I. ! " 
 
 All letters and mandates issuing from the Post-office bore the 
 signatures of both the chiefs : but Mr. Scudamore, than whom 
 no one is more entitled to speak on this subject, as no one has 
 more patiently investigated the records of the period, thinks it 
 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, and very different indeed from the 
 management under present arrangements. The service was 
 undeveloped, and contracts for the work had just begun to be 
 thought of : hence the Post-office officials had to build packets 
 as well as furnish and man them ; when the ships were done 
 work they had to dispose of them ; in times of war they had to 
 
94 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 arm them. Amongst the records which survive of the Post- 
 office none are more full nor none more interesting than those 
 which relate to the infancy and growth of the English packet- 
 service a service which is now the best and most extensive, 
 beyond all proportion, in the world. Upon those curious records 
 we cannot draw in this volume to any great extent, but hope to 
 treat the subject in all its bearings in a separate publication. 
 All we venture upon now is so much as will illustrate the 
 character of the Post-office chiefs, and the duties which they 
 were required to perform. This service, indeed, seems to have 
 given the Postmasters-General great and constant anxiety. The 
 packets were then so much at the mercy of the elements ; the 
 men on board were, on account of their genii-official character, 
 so much more difficult to control and postal aifairs at all times 
 required peremptory control if all must go on well ; while 
 French and other privateers gave so much trouble, that we can 
 fancy few duties less pleasant or less enviable. The packet- 
 boats were required to fight on occasion serving or demanding : 
 hence in war times they were armed in some sort as vessels of 
 war. The Postmasters-General were required to see to it that 
 they went forth with sufficient stores and men, and so during 
 the continuance of strife their duties never flagged and their 
 energies were continually on the stretch. That this is no exag- 
 gerated picture of the state of things will be apparent to all 
 who have looked into the records, and the sad plaintiveness 
 of some of their letters puts the matter beyond a doubt. " We 
 are very uneasy," say they to one agent, " and shall be till we 
 hear the stores are safely arrived with you, which we impatiently 
 wish." " We are concerned," say they to another, and many 
 letters are Jbegun with the same words, " to find the letters 
 brought by your boat (one from the West Indies) to be so con- 
 sumed by the ratts, that we cannot find out to whom they 
 belong." Seeing this we cannot but sympathise in their joys, 
 as we try to do with their manifold sorrows, when they tell 
 one of their captains that his " letter of the 4th was very wel- 
 come after our many apprehensions of some misfortune having 
 happened to the expedition." Another letter to their agent at 
 Harwich is evidently disciplinary, and runs as follows : 
 
Early Packet Service. 95 
 
 " Mr. EDISBURY, The woman whose complaint we herewith send you, 
 having given us much trouble upon the same, we desire you will enquire 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. JF." 
 
 Knowing their men, they thought it only too probable that the 
 brandy had gone in the way indicated. It is to be hoped that 
 the woman would be compensated for her loss, as the liquor 
 itself would be lost beyond all redemption. In another letter 
 they scold an agent (always affectionately) because he "had 
 not provided a sufficiency of pork and beef for the prince (Prince 
 George of Denmark in all probability) ; in another, because he 
 had bought powder at Falmouth that would have been so much 
 cheaper in London." Then in other cases they act as guar- 
 dians of morality and loyalty, suspending an agent because he 
 " had stirred up a mutiny between the captain and his men, 
 which was unhandsome conduct in him," and bringing Captain 
 Clies to trial in another case, inasmuch as he had "spoken words 
 reflecting on the Royal family " which they " took particular 
 unkind of him." Another captain is in difficulties with his 
 men, and they try their hands as peacemakers. Their plans 
 succeed temporarily, but soon afterwards, Captain Chennal is 
 again in hot water. " We are concerned to find," they write, 
 " such differences among persons employed under us, but we 
 do think the best way to compose them is to advise everyone 
 to mind his proper business and duty. We do think you might 
 keep all your officers and sailors to strict duty without so rugged 
 a treatment. As we are desirous of good discipline, so also are 
 we of good agreement." Thus these shrewd, active, and anxious 
 men pursued their calling, managing their office with scrupu- 
 lous care and fidelity, and earning the respect of posterity as 
 well as of those who knew them. 1 
 
 This sole control over the resources of the packet-service 
 
 1 In entering into many of these details we have been considerably indebted 
 to the investigations of Mr. Scudamore, now Assistant-secretary of the Post- 
 office (see Appendix to the Postmaster General's First Report, pp. 51 62). 
 This able and respected public servant, equally shrewd and successful in every- 
 thing he takes in hand, seems to have been the first to perceive the value aud 
 interest attaching to the early records of this department, and to have endea- 
 \oured to preserve them from oblivion. 
 
96 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 readily explains much in the history of the franking system 
 which otherwise were unintelligible. The Treasury warrants of 
 that day franked the strangest commodities, as the following 
 list of a few items extracted by Mr. Scudamore from the Records 
 will sufficiently prove : 
 
 " Imprimis : Fifteen couple of hounds going to the King of the Romans 
 
 with a free pass. 
 Item : Some parcels of cloths for the clothing colonels in my Lord 
 
 North's and my Lord Grey's regiments. 
 Item : Two maid servants going as laundresses to my Lord Ambas- 
 
 sador Methuen. 
 Item : Dr. Crichton carrying with him a cow and divers other 
 
 necessaries. 
 Item : Three suits of cloths for some nobleman's lady at the Court 
 
 of Portugal. 
 Item : A box containing three pounds of tea, sent as a present from 
 
 my Lady Arlington, to the Queen Dowager of England, 
 
 at Lisbon. 
 Item : One parcel of lace, to be made use of in clothing Duke 
 
 Schomberg's regiment. 
 Item : Two bales of stockings for the use (?) of the Ambassador to 
 
 the Crown of Portugal. 
 
 Item : A box of medicines for my Lord Galway in Portugal. 
 Item : A deal case with four flitches of bacon for Mr. Pennington, 
 
 of Rotterdam." 
 
 It is necessary that we should turn back to the origin of the 
 franking system, and we may as well deal with the whole ques- 
 tion at the same time. A committee of the House of Commons, 
 which sat in the year 1735, reported that " the privilege of frank- 
 ing letters by the knights, &c. chosen to represent the Commons 
 in Parliament, began with the creating of a Post-office by Act 
 of Parliament." The proviso which secured this privilege to 
 members cannot now be otherwise regarded than as a propitiatory 
 clause to induce the unanimous approval of the general Bill for 
 the establishment of the Post-office. The account of the dis- 
 cussion of the franking clause is like an oasis in the desert of 
 blue-book literature, and makes amusing what is nothing but a 
 dry revenue discussion. 1 Sir Walter Earle proposed that "mem- 
 bers' letters should come and go free during the time of their 
 sittings." Sir Heneage Finch (afterwards Lord Chancellor Finch) 
 1 Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. ix. 
 
Legislative Enactments. 97 
 
 said, indignantly, " It is a poor mendicant proviso, and below the 
 honour of the House." Notwithstanding this outburst, many 
 members spoke in favour of the clause, Sir George Downing and 
 Mr. Boscawen among the number, while Serjeant Charlton told 
 the House that " letters for counsel went free." The question 
 was being carried on the wings of popular feeling, when an 
 unexpected difficulty arose with the Speaker, Sir Harbottle 
 Grimstone, who, when the question was called, refused for some 
 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 privileges, was sent up to the Lords, 
 they threw out the clause, ostensibly for the same reason which 
 had actuated the minority in the Commons in opposing it, but 
 really, as it was confessed some years later, because there was 
 no provision made in the Bill that the "Lords' own letters 
 should pass free." A few years afterwards this important 
 omission was supplied, and both Houses had the privilege 
 guaranteed to them. 
 
 We have seen what curious consignments of goods were made 
 under Government franks in connexion with the packet service. 
 In the Inland Office parcels and packets scarcely more of the 
 nature of letters passed through the post by a stretch of the 
 privilege in question. 1 With regard to letters, the first enact- 
 ment set forth that any member of Parliament should send and 
 receive all his letters free of postage during the sittings of the 
 Houses. Then the privilege was granted without restrictions of 
 any kind, either as to time or the nature of the correspondence. 
 
 1 Sir Walter Scott used to tell the following, which for many reasons is 
 too good not to give : " One morning," says he, " I opened a huge lump of 
 a despatcli without looking at the address, never doubting hut that it had 
 travelled under some omnipotent frank, like the First Lord of the Admiralty's, 
 when, lo and behold! the contents proved to be a MS. play, by a young lady 
 of New York, who kindly requested me to read and correct it, equip it with 
 prologue and epilogue, procure for it a good reception from the manager of 
 Drury Lane, and make Murray or Constable bleed handsomely for the copyright ! 
 On inspecting the cover, I found that I had been charged upwards of 5/. for the 
 postage. This was bad enough, but seeing no help, I groaned and submitted. 
 A fortnight after another packet of the same formidable bulk arrived, and I 
 was absent enough again to break the seal without examination. Conceive 
 my horror when out jumped again the same identical tragedy of the Cherokee 
 Indians, with an epistle from the authoress stating that, as the w inds had been 
 so boisterous, she feared the first packet had foundered, and had thought it 
 best to send me a duplicate !" 
 
98 Her Majesty' 's Mails. 
 
 It was soon found, however, that too much liberty was allowed, 
 and that this arrangement led to abuses of many forms. In 
 1705, Queen Anne issued a warrant, signed by Godolphiu, Lord 
 High Treasurer, which curtailed the power of members the 
 warrant to the Postmasters-General running as follows : 1 
 
 " Our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby require and command, that the 
 members of both our Houses of Parliament, during the respective sessions, and 
 for forty days before and forty days after every session, be permitted to send 
 and receive free any letters or packets which ought to be paid, until we shall 
 signify our pleasure to the contrary, and so as such letters or packets to be 
 franked do not exceed two ounces in weight. We do also require you to 
 make our pleasure known to the members of both Houses, that, for the pre- 
 venting the abuses which (we are informed) have been frequently practised by 
 . divers persons who, not being members of either House themselves, have pre- 
 sumed to endorse upon their letters the names of such as were, as also to 
 direct their letters to members of Parliament when at the sime time such 
 letters do not really belong to or concern these members, we do expect that 
 the members of both Houses do constantly endorse their names on their own 
 letters 'with their own handwriting, and that they do not suffer any letters 
 whatsoever than such as concern themselves to pass under their frank, cover, 
 or direction to the diminution and prejudice of our revenue." 
 
 In 1763 the abuses complained of had not only not abated, 
 bust considerably increased. The forging of members' franks, 
 because so lucrative, became so general, that an investigation 
 was ordered ; when, as one fact among many then brought to 
 light, it was found that one man had, in the course of five 
 months,, counterfeited 1,200 dozens of them, and was rapidly 
 enriching himself at Hi& Majesty's expense. Owing to circum- 
 stances such as these, the value of franked correspondence went 
 on augmenting during the whole of the eighteenth century. In 
 17l6 the worth of State letters and franked letters amounted 
 together to 27,087Z. In 1763, the money which would have 
 been paid on letters franked by members alone amounted to 
 the enormous sum of 170,OOOZ. ! 
 
 In the early part of the century the franked correspondence, 
 especially that known as " State's letters," gave the Postmasters- 
 General great trouble. Under the authority of the king, the 
 principal Government officers were allowed to send their letters 
 free, if the covers were endorsed with the names of the respec- 
 i Treasury Letter Book, 17041709. 
 
Increase of Franked Correspondence. 99 
 
 live heads of departments. Thanks to the vigilance of the Post- 
 office chiefs, we get some curious glimpses of the easy morals of 
 the official mind of their day. The high State officer, under pre- 
 tence of " His Majesty's Service," might send under his frank 
 anything he chose, but the Postmasters-General cannot stand a 
 traffic in deception among the subordinates, and they pounce 
 upon them when they dare, and when they have the opportunity, 
 very severely. From the following letter it would appear that 
 an accident originally revealed sharp practices in the office of the 
 Duke of Queensberry and Dover, who was, in 1709, the English 
 secretary for Scotland. The Postmasters-General tell the duke 
 that they had long suspected that private letters were conveyed 
 between Edinburgh and London among the official correspond- 
 ence, and they now produce conclusive evidence, as follows : 
 
 " The packet from Edinburgh which came this day directed to Mr. Mont- 
 gomery, your grace's secretary, being broke open by rubbing in the mail, and 
 the letters thereby become loose, lias given us an opportunity of observing 
 that, besides several letters directed to your grace, your secretary, and the 
 clerks in the office, there came enclosed in the cover of the said packet so 
 many letters directed to tradesmen and private persons in London and West- 
 minster, as that the postage amounts to 4<l. IBs. and we have reason to 
 believe that every post the like or a greater number of letters are sent under 
 the cover of the secretary's packet." 
 
 They ask the duke to take steps in the matter, that such an 
 abuse may not continue. About the same time a similar letter 
 is sent to the Board of Ordnance ; but the following to Mr. 
 Blaithwaite, long the Secretary for War, is of its kind unique. 
 They seem to have addressed the War Secretary in a previous 
 letter, but not to have spoken with their usual plainness, in- 
 asmuch as an explanation or more explicitness is desired, and 
 Mr. Blaithwaite gets it with a vengeance : 
 
 "The occasion of our letter of the 24th past was upon our observing 
 that there were each post so many letters signed with your name which 
 amounted to about 51. which we apprehended might arise so high by several 
 gentlemen desiring to send their letters under your cover. As we were 
 desirous to hinder the lessening of the revenue, so we did not know but that 
 our taking notice of it might give some answer to many importunities which 
 you could not otherwise so easily avoid. We cannot deny but that this has 
 been too much a practice in all times, but we are sure you will not blame us 
 for wishing it were amended, being so very prejudicial to His Majesty's 
 H 2 
 
ioo Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 revenue nnder our management ; and you will be of the same opinion when 
 we tell you that in each Holland mail those which are commonly called 
 State Letters,' amount to hetween 20J. and 30/. most of which we can scarce 
 suppose to be intelligence relating to His Majesty's business." 
 
 Shrewd and skilful diplomatists, King William's postal revenue 
 was surely safe in their keeping. 
 
 In the year 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 like- 
 wise. Even these precautions, though lessening the frauds of 
 forgery, were not sufficient to meet the evil, as 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 the letters should be posted on the date given. 
 In 1795 it was ordered that franked letters were only to carry 
 one ounce, and were only to pass free when posted within 
 twenty miles of the place where the member concerned was on 
 that or the preceding day. Further, no more than ten letters 
 could be sent, or more than fifteen received, by one person 
 in one day. From that time, 1795, to the date of penny 
 postage the quantity of franked letters increased enormously, 
 and the abuses increased with them, yet no further change was 
 made in the law. Members throughout the country 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. In 1838, the number of franks which actually passed 
 through the Post-office was estimated at seven millions, which 
 number when reduced to the standard of single letters amounted 
 to above 30 per cent, of the whole number of letters transmitted 
 by post. The average weight of an official frank was about two 
 ounces ; that of a parliamentary frank over half an ounce ; 
 whilst an ordinary letter averaged but three-tenths of an ounce. 
 Had the parliamentary and official franks of 1838 been liable to 
 the regular charge, and that settled according to weight, as at 
 present, these letters alone would have added nearly a million 
 sterling to the Post-office revenue of that year ! 
 
 We will close this chapter with a brief account of the staff of 
 
Early Postal Salaries. i o i 
 
 the Post-office and the expenses of management at the time 
 to which we have now carried this history viz. to the end 
 of the reign of Queen Anne. With the new dynasty we find a 
 new management at the Post-office, and many important changes 
 which require separate and special treatment. 
 
 s. d. 
 The gross revenue of the Post-office in the year 
 
 1715 amounted to ". . 182,415 8 6 
 
 Then by Expenses of Management 63,665 11 6 
 
 By State's Letters and Members' Franks .... 23,322 4 8 
 By Money paid into the Exchequer, at 700/. per 
 
 week 36,400 
 
 123,387 16 2 
 
 Leaving as " net produce " 59,027 12 4 
 
 Which sum, if added to the sum of money paid into 
 the Exchequer, gives a clear net revenue for 
 the year 1715 of 95,427 12 4 
 
 There were then two Postmasters-General, with a salary of 
 1,OOOZ. each per annum ; they had a secretary, with 200?. and 
 he was assisted by a clerk, with 601. There were four chief 
 officers in the Inland Office an Accountant-General, with a 
 salary of 300Z. ; a Keceiver-General, also with 300Z. ; a Con- 
 troller, with 200Z. ; and a Solicitor, with 200Z. The staff of 
 clerks consisted of seven for the different roads Chester, 
 North, West, Bristol, Yarmouth, Kent, and Kent Night-Koads. 
 Each of the clerks had salaries of 601. per annum, and all but 
 the last-named had assistants or sorters, with 551. per annum. 
 Thirteen clerks were engaged in other duties, either as alphabet- 
 keepers, window-men, or clerks to the chief officers, at salaries 
 of 60Z. and 501. per annum. The Foreign Office, which was 
 a separate establishment, included a Controller, with 1501. a 
 year ; an alphabet-keeper, with 1001. ; and six clerks, at 50Z. 
 each. The following list of letter-receivers we quote entire : 
 
 & s. d. 
 Richard Saye, that takes letters in at Gray's Inn Gate, 
 
 per annum 16 
 
 E. Sanger, at Temple Bar 27 
 
 G. Luce, at Westminster . 20 
 
IO2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 F. Lovell, at St. James's 10 
 
 John Smith, at Covent Garden 13 6 8 
 
 K. Greswell, at East Smithfield 1500 
 
 Mrs. Wilkinson, at Ratcliff Cross 15 
 
 Mrs. Eaton, at Wapping 15 
 
 James Eldridge, in Holbourn 600 
 
 John Loyd, in the Strand 12 
 
 Edward Jeffries, in Bloomsbury Market 800 
 
 William Symonds, at Fleet Ditch 500 
 
 Three letter bringers "who bring letters from West- 
 minster, Pell Mell, and Gray's Inn, get among 
 
 them," per annum * 37 
 
 Six foreign letter-carriers, at sixteen shillings a week, and sixty- 
 six inland letter-carriers, at eleven shillings a week, with a few 
 porters and minor officers, make up the London establishment 
 of 1715. Thus the London office of that date was correctly 
 managed with a staff which, including letter-carriers, did not 
 amount to so many as the number of officers now employed at 
 the separate money order establishment in Aldersgate Street ; 
 and the entire expenses of management for the London office for 
 that year did not amount to so much as is now paid in a week 
 to the clerks of that office alone. 2 As the salaries of the whole 
 of the deputy postmasters in England and Wales amounted to 
 less than 10,OOOZ. annually, we may assume that the greatest 
 portion of the expenses of management, or nearly 34,OOOZ. went 
 to defray the cost of the Mail Packet Service. 
 
 1 These men, it may be remembered, the authorities appointed because the 
 receivers were wont to get "indigent persons" to do the duty, at even a 
 cheaper rate ! 
 
 2 We must again call attention to the fact that the whole of these sums 
 may be considered as at least equivalent to three times the amount in the 
 money of the present day, i.e. regarding the cost of living, and the value of 
 estates. 
 
System of Cross Posts. 1 03 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RALPH ALLEN AND CROSS POSTS IN ENGLAND, AND JAMES 
 
 ANDERSON AND HORSE POSTS IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 1715 TO 1760. 
 
 IN 1715, Frankland and Evelyn were succeeded at the Post- 
 office by Lord Cornwallis and James Craggs, Esq. sen. the 
 Whigs having again come into power. Cornwallis had pre- 
 viously occupied a seat at the Board of Admiralty ; Craggs 
 some fifty years before had begun life as a barber, and was 
 subsequently a footman in the service of the Duchess of 
 Cleveland. Craggs was a man of undoubted ability, and both 
 he and his son x were very friendly with Pope, who frequently 
 eulogized them in his verse. For example, he wrote of the 
 elder as 
 
 " A soul as full of worth as void of pride, 
 Which nothiug seeks to shun or needs to hide." 
 
 Craggs had a most prosperous career until he became involved 
 in the South Sea scheme, and came to a terrible death by 
 suicide in 1718. In his place at the Post-office he seems to 
 have been most painstaking, active, and precise, and may be 
 
 1 It was the son and not Craggs Pere who succeeded Addison as Secretary 
 of State, after the essayist's short and somewhat inglorious occupation of that 
 high post. Our excuse for this error, into which we have fallen in our First 
 Edition, is that father and son are very often confounded with one another, 
 even by Lord Macaulay, owing to both filling high official positions at the sam 
 time. When the son became Secretary of State, the two friends coquetted in 
 verse not much known. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 " Since my old friend is grown so great 
 As to be Minister of State, 
 I'm told, but 'tis not true, I hope, 
 That Craggs will be ashamed of Pope." 
 To which Craggs is said to have replied : 
 " Alas ! If I am such a creature 
 To grow the worse for growing greater, 
 Why, faith, in spite of all my brags, 
 Tis Pope must be ashamed of Craggs." 
 
104 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 said to have done Lord Cornwallis's duty as well as his own. 1 
 He wrote most of the letters, and accounts for his single signature 
 by the constant expression, " My Lord Cornwallis being out of 
 town." Their initiation of the cross-post system stamps their 
 management as one of no ordinary character, while the care 
 they took of all the various accounts, and the endeavour to 
 carry out all the clauses in the Post-office Act of 1709 10, 
 show their diligence and aptitude. " It appears to us," say they 
 to the Treasury Lords, "that a further improvement in the 
 revenue may be made, as well as a better and more commodious 
 appointment of the posts in several places in this kingdom may 
 be settled, for want of which we have very frequent complaints, 
 and, as we conceive, not without very good grounds." Clerks 
 and deputies have not sufficient checks upon their correctness ; 
 they underpay their subordinates, or don't pay them at all, 
 " which must lead to frauds in the revenue ; " and the postboys 
 carry letters in their pockets ; all which abuses might be 
 remedied if several surveyors were to make continual journeys 
 into the kingdom to examine accounts and superintend the 
 management. The Act of 1710 gave the necessary powers, but 
 the surveyors had not been continued after the post roads had 
 been measured. The Treasury Lords agree to the appointment 
 of six surveyors for the six principal post roads ; 2 and though 
 they seem to have been meant but for temporary employment, 
 yet the institution of the cross-post system, to which we must 
 now refer at greater length, made it necessary that at least 
 three of them should be constantly engaged. 
 
 The system of cross-posts may be said to have been inau- 
 gurated by the late Postmasters-General, for in the early part of 
 the century they established several bye-posts (one between 
 Bristol and Exeter we have already referred to), which were 
 very successful. They saw the necessity of a long cross-post 
 between Bristol and Chester, and actually started it, but it not 
 succeeding so rapidly as they imagined, and not being able to 
 control its working at such a distance, they were reluctantly 
 compelled to advise the Treasury Lords to give it up. In 1719, 
 however, Ralph Allen appears, another, and perhaps the most 
 fortunate of all the improvers of the Post-office. Mr. Allen 
 i Treasury Letter Book, 17151724. 2 Ibid. 
 
Allen 's Engagement. 105 
 
 either was at that time, or previously had been for we have 
 failed to establish the fact postmaster of Bath, a position of 
 great importance among the then deputy-postmasters. He would 
 doubtless be cognizant of the attempts made by the authorities 
 to establish and perfect the cross-post between Bristol and 
 Chester. Be that as it may, he was well aware of the defects in 
 the existing system, and resolved upon undertaking the business 
 himself (for farming different portions of country was not then 
 unknown), if he could get the requisite authority, and make a 
 reasonable bargain. The nature of the work which he proposed 
 himself may be easily understood when the reader is informed 
 that there was no direct postal intercommunication between 
 such large towns in the interior of the country as Bristol and 
 Birmingham, Birmingham and Manchester, but that London 
 was the centre of the system, from which posts radiated, as it 
 were, to all the important towns in the kingdom. Thus it 
 happened that letters between country towns were carried by 
 strangely circuitous routes ; for example, a letter from Chelten- 
 ham or Bath for Worcester or Birmingham required first to go to 
 the metropolis, and then to be sent back again by the direct 
 post-road, an arrangement which in those days of slow locomo- 
 tion caused endless delays and inconvenience. Mr. Allen saw 
 clearly, and he was almost the first to see it, that the more 
 speedy the post was made, the more frequently people could 
 send and get letters, the certain result would be a great multi- 
 plication of letters within the same time ; and that this multipli- 
 cation of correspondence would not only make up for the reduced 
 rates of letters sent so much shorter distances, but would 
 materially augment the revenue. " Quickened and improved 
 correspondence is the life of trade," said Allen in his quaintly- 
 written proposal to the Treasury Lords ; and it is fortunate for 
 posterity that belief in this truism at which that same posterity 
 may be .inclined in these days to laugh was shared by the 
 Government of the period. The Postmasters-General needed 
 little convincing of the expediency of the method proposed by 
 Mr. Allen to give the direct communication to certain provincial 
 towns ; they had only given up the posts because they could not 
 make them pay sufficiently ; they considered therefore that they 
 ought only to be too glad to let Allen make a trial, seeing that 
 
io6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 he proposed to do so at his own risk and cost. With this 
 official recognition of the merits of the scheme, and the recom- 
 mendation of the Post-office chiefs in its favour, the proposals 
 met with no opposition from the Treasury. The Postmasters- 
 General were instructed to prepare an agreement, and after it 
 had been duly approved by Attorney-General Lechmere, it was 
 signed by the parties concerned. This agreement, so important 
 in itself, and so much more important in its bearings on the 
 gradual rise of the Post-office to its present condition, we must 
 here make the endeavour to give full enough to be understood, 
 but so compressed as not to encroach unfairly on our space. The 
 agreement, which covers nine or ten pages of the official letter- 
 book of the period, 1 was signed on the 12th of April, 1720, and 
 was to last for seven years. 
 
 (1) Mr. Allen undertakes to pay 6,OOOZ. per annum, in quar- 
 terly payments, for the farm of the new posts that he proposes 
 to erect. The entire cost of setting up post-offices and post- 
 stages, where not established, to be defrayed by him ; and the 
 salaries of the officers to be employed in new posts also to be 
 paid by him. (2) He engages during seven years to farm the 
 whole distance between Exeter and Chester, and all the towns 
 between these places, and also the road between Bristol and 
 Oxford, going by way of Bath, Wantage, and Abingdon, " and 
 taking in all towns on or near that road." He further engages 
 to carry and deliver letters along the whole of these roads at least 
 three times a week. (3) He stipulates to keep horses always in 
 readiness at the several stages for persons riding post or express, 
 and only to demand the lawful charges ; also, that the post-boys 
 to be employed by him shall ride five miles an hour. 
 
 In consideration of these engagements, Mr. Allen secures 
 (4) The carriage or postage of all letters on any of his roads, 
 according to the charges by law established. He agrees, how- 
 ever, to a proviso inserted here, that he will not meddle with 
 other letters than his own, or those for towns belonging to roads 
 not in his contract, a special reference being made to the letters 
 which may have passed through London, and known as " country 
 letters." To the end that the authorities may see that these 
 clauses have been duly attended to, they get Allen to engage to 
 1 Treasury Letter Boole, 17151724?. 
 
Renews his Engagements. 107 
 
 keep books at all his stages, entering there all his charges, costs, 
 disbursements, and receipts, and transmitting a proper account 
 from these entries to the General Post-office every six months ; 
 not only so, but to keep these books always open to the inspection 
 of such officers as the authorities may see fit to send into the 
 country to examine them. (5) In conclusion, the Postmasters- 
 General indemnify themselves against all loss from this contract. 
 
 Mr. Allen's contract was in abeyance for some months, in 
 consequence of the change of Government, owing to the 
 bursting of the great South Sea Bubble, in which not only the 
 working Postmaster-General, Mr. Craggs, but the Premier 
 (Sunderland) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. 
 Aislabie) are supposed to have been deeply implicated. When, 
 however, Mr. Carteret and Mr. G. Walpole (a relative of the 
 new Premier) took office at the Post-office, they ratified the s deed 
 in all its particulars. 
 
 When the seven years had nearly expired, Mr. Allen addressed 
 the Treasury on the subject of a renewal of the contract. Mr. 
 Allen cannot engage to give a higher sum for the farm ; he 
 shows how he has cleared but a little sum during the seven 
 years, and how he has lain on anything but a bed of roses 
 during that time. In his own words, he " has had to lahour 
 under a great expense by the opposition and perverseness of the 
 officers who formerly sunk and embezzled this part of the revenue, 
 and most of the people (he rather slyly added) still wait with 
 earnest expectation for an end of the present lease, that they 
 may again throw the business into its former disorder and con- 
 fusion." Though he cannot offer more money for the contract, 
 he proposes to extend the sphere of his operations. The 
 Postmasters- General report upon his proposals ; they agree with 
 him that he has been subject to all kinds of disturbance from 
 those whose vested interests had suffered ; and they recommend 
 that if Mr. Allen would engage to apply his system to the Kent 
 and Yarmouth Roads, he should be allowed to renew his contract 
 on the same terms. In consideration of his expenses, and the 
 beneficial effects to the country which had followed from his 
 existing posts, a similar agreement to the foregoing was made 
 out and signed. We may as well here recount how Mr. Allen 
 succeeded in inducing the Treasury to grant him seven different 
 
io8 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 leases of the cross-post farm in terms of seven years each ; that 
 each application was accompanied with offers to extend his posts 
 till they covered the whole country. When he had exhausted 
 his resources in the way of extension of the posts, he began to 
 offer inducements of a different nature. In his fourth applica- 
 tion he offered that his posts should travel six instead of three 
 times a week over his original roads. In his fifth agreement he 
 engaged to send posts six times a week between London and 
 Bristol, and London and Birmingham. In his seventh and last 
 he stipulated that the posts between London and Nottingham, 
 and London and Manchester, should travel each working day. 
 In addition, however, we find he entered into an engagement to 
 establish a supplementary post from London to Chester, going 
 by way of Nantwich, and another from London to Shrewsbury, 
 going through Wolverhampton. But we have not yet exhausted 
 the list of his projects and expedients. At the commencement 
 of each contract he engaged that his posts should not only not 
 depreciate the value of the postage of " country letters," of 
 which we have already spoken, but that the revenue from them 
 should continue to increase. To this end, he guaranteed a 
 certain amount of revenue from this source, and if that was not 
 reached by the end of the year, he would make the amount up 
 from his own funds. Each proposal contained a guarantee for 
 a larger sum than the foregoing. In his sixth contract, he put 
 the amount down at 18,0002. in his seventh at 18,500Z. a year, 
 and when we remember that this amount of postage is but for a 
 small branch of operations, the result is a sure evidence of the 
 general progress of postal business. We must, in passing, refer 
 to one little circumstance in Allen's fifth application to the 
 Treasury for a renewal of his lease. He modestly refers to the 
 fact of the army under Prince Charles having come into England 
 during his last contract, making sad havoc of his peaceful postal 
 arrangements in the Midland and Lancashire districts, and he 
 prays that in his further term he "may be spared from the 
 dangers that may attend any new national calamities." The 
 Postmasters-General tell the Treasury Lords that Mr. Allen's 
 loss must have been considerable, by the " disorder into which 
 his affairs were thrown by the effects of the late horrid and 
 unnatural Rebellion," and therefore a clause was inserted in the 
 
Disputes Arise. 109 
 
 next agreement, providing against a fresh irruption of the Scotch 
 Jacobites into England. 
 
 Mr. Allen died in 1764, and the cross-post system, which had 
 become so gigantic as to be nearly unmanageable, was transferred 
 to the care of the Post-office authorities themselves. It was 
 with great trouble that the revenues of the two posts were 
 gathered toward the last, so much so that the lapse of the new 
 posts to the Crown establishment must have given satisfaction to 
 the Government. It is true that the persons employed by Mr. 
 Allen were, though paid by him, appointed by the Postmasters- 
 General, and liable to be dismissed by them at will ; yet still the 
 distinction between the different postages that of the bye or 
 cross posts belonging to Allen, while the general postage, and the 
 postage of the " country letters," belonged to the Government 
 was ever the vexed question, and one which led to continual 
 disputes. The deputies, moreover, 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 
 run the risk of mistakes in the matter ! It was one of the chief 
 duties of the Surveyors of the Post-office, of whom there were 
 now four (three paid by Mr. Allen, and one residing in London 
 to advise the Postmasters-General in relation to the cross-posts, 
 &c.), to visit each deputy-postmaster continually, to see that this 
 distinction between the different postages was properly kept up. 
 Sad lives had some of these officials in the endeavour to do these 
 and other most onerous and difficult duties, 1 as we learn from 
 
 1 At this time, and for many years subsequently, the mails were carried on 
 horseback by postboys. Some of these postboys were sad rogues, who took 
 advantage of the confusion in the two posts in order to do business on their 
 own account, carrying letters concealed upon them, of course for charges 
 quite unorthodox. As an illustration, take a complaint from one of the sur- 
 veyors in question, which, though exhibiting no little malice, and little good 
 grammar, tells a plain tale, and will suffice to show the curious way things 
 were managed in 1735 : " At this place (Salisbury) found the post boys to 
 have carried on vile practices in taking: the bye letters, delivering them in this 
 city, and taking back answer, especially the Andover riders. On the 15th 
 inst. found on Hichard Kent, one of the Andover riders, 5 bye letters, all for 
 this city. Upon examining the fellow, he confessed he had made it a practice, 
 and persisted to continue in if, saying he had no wages from his master. I 
 took the fellow before the magistrates, proved the facts, and he was committed, 
 but pleading to have no money or friends, desired a punishment to be whipped, 
 and 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 
 
no Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 the Surveyors' Books, referring to country post-offices from 1735 
 onwards ! Notwithstanding the losses which Mr. Allen must 
 have suffered through the delinquencj or carelessness of country 
 postmasters, yet in an account which he left at his death he 
 estimated the net profits of his contracts at the sum of 10,0002. 
 a year, a sum which, during his official life, amounted to a total 
 of nearly half a million sterling ! 
 
 Mr. Allen not only reaped golden harvests, but deserved to 
 do so. His energy and careful organizing powers are worthy 
 of all praise, and, inasmuch as he laid the foundation for the 
 future improvements at the Post-office, and carried out schemes 
 over which officialdom had failed, he deserves the gratitude of 
 posterity. Not alone in his public, but in his private capacity, 
 Mr. Allen commanded universal respect. In the only short 
 account of this estimable man which we have been able to find l 
 and here we must confess our astonishment that all the 
 so-called Comprehensive Biographical Dictionaries of his or our 
 day make no kind of mention of him a contemporary writer 
 states 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 Henry 
 Fielding, and in Tom Jones, the novelist has gratefully drawn 
 Allen's character in the person of Squire Allworihy. He enjoyed 
 the friendship of Chatham, and Pope and other men of literary 
 distinction knew him intimately. Pope introduced Allen to 
 Bishop Warburton as " one of the wealthiest and kindest of 
 mortals," and the ambitious author of the Divine Legation so 
 far improved upon this introduction as to seek and obtain the 
 hand of Allen's niece, and with her a considerable fortune, and 
 
 next day the same rider came post, ran about the city 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, got two 
 idle fellows and rides off with the 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 dishonesties 
 and impertinencies of Richard Kent. From Mr. Scudarnore's Notft, Post- 
 master-General's First Report. 
 
 1 Gentleman '$ Magazine, August, 1764. 
 
Alleys Literary Friends. 1 1 1 
 
 almost constant residence at Prior Park. A codicil to Allen's 
 will, dated the November before he died, contains the following 
 interesting bequest : " For the last instance of my friendly and 
 grateful regard for the best of friends, as well as for the most 
 upright and ablest of ministers that has adorned our country, I 
 leave to the Right. Hon. William Pitt (Chatham) the sum of 
 1,OOOL to be disposed of by him to any of his children as he' 
 may be pleased to appoint." 
 
 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 it fame." 
 
 Fielding's picture of Allen, in the character of Allworthy, is of 
 course coloured with the warmth of private friendship, but its 
 truthfulness left little room to doubt as to the person for whom 
 it was intended. Allworthy is presented on a fine May morning 
 walking upon the terrace before his mansion, planning some 
 generous action, when, " in the full blaze of his majesty up rose 
 the sun, than which one object alone in this lower creation could 
 be more glorious, and that Mr. Allworthy himself presented a 
 human being replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner 
 he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing 
 most good to His creatures." 
 
 Mr. Allen divided his time between his literary friends in 
 London and his native city of Bath, near which city stood his 
 elegant villa in Prior Park. At both places he was able to give 
 direct superintendence to his postal plans. It may not be 
 thought foreign to our subject to add that a quarrel took place 
 between Pope and Mr. Allen in 1745, when the latter was 
 Mayor of Bath. Both Mr. Cunninghame and Sir John Hawkins 
 give a similar account of the rupture. Pope with Martha Blount 
 signified his intention to go to the Popish chapel, and desired 
 of Mr. Allen the use of his chariot for the purpose ; but he, 
 being chief magistrate, suggested the impropriety of having his 
 carriage seen at the door of a place of worship to which, as 
 Mayor, he was " at least refrained from giving any sanction, and 
 which he might be required to suppress," and therefore desired 
 to be excused. The two friends often met afterwards, but never 
 
T 1 2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 on the same terms ; " they stood aloof, the scars remaining." 
 Dr. Johnson says that even Pope's will bore marks of the 
 wounded pride and sense of injury from the disturbance in 
 question. 
 
 On the death of Allen, the Postmasters-General appointed an 
 officer named Mr. Ward to take the charge of the " Bye Letter- 
 'office," as the branch was now called, at the salary of 300Z. 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,OOOZ. 
 were handed over to the Crown. Afterwards, the proceeds con- 
 tinued 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?. 
 
 The statute of Queen Anne provided that a weekly payment 
 of 700Z. should be made to the Exchequer from the Post-office 
 for a period of thirty-two years. Though on the accession of 
 George I. an Act was passed (3 George I. chap. 7) to make this 
 payment perpetual, it was thought proper that another Act 
 should be passed in 1743, on the expiration of the term of 
 thirty-two years, to the same effect. In order also to keep up 
 the revenue derived from the Post-office, which was yearly in- 
 creasing, and far too important to relinquish, the rates of postage, 
 instead of being lowered as stipulated in 1710, were kept up 
 at their old figure till 1761, when they were altered, though 
 increased. 1 George III. chap. 25, provides, that the improve- 
 ment 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 accession of territory, no posts or 
 post rates are arranged to all His Majesty's dominions ; and also, 
 because in England such great and varied changes have occurred 
 since her reign. 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 ; 
 several additional packets are put on between England and Spain 
 and Portugal. Other and cheaper rates of postage are established 
 between London and New York, and all His Majesty's territories 
 in America. 
 
Increased Postage Rates. 113 
 
 2. Concerning letters brought by private ship 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 20Z. 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 1 
 
 double letter 02 
 
 ounce 04 
 
 single letter, 30 miles and under 40 2 
 
 double letter 04 
 
 ounce 08 
 
 single letter, 40 miles and under 80 3 
 
 double letter 06 
 
 ounce 10 
 
 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. 1 
 
 1 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 
 120,0001. 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 
 
H4 H er Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 Lon- 
 don 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 pro- 
 vided on either post-roads or elsewhere by any person choosing to 
 engage in the trade. In 1779, the Acts giving exclusive privilege 
 to the Postmasters-General and their deputies as to the letting 
 of post-horses for hire, are henceforth repealed. 
 
 While speaking of the Post-office revenue, we may here simply 
 state the clause in Queen Anne's Act, which relates to the 
 surplus revenue. By surplus revenue we mean the sum remain- 
 ing after the expenses of management, the pensions, and the 
 weekly 700?. sent to the Exchequer had been paid. It would 
 seem to have been retained by the queen entirely " for the better 
 
 suppose that the public would grumble in having to pay just one penny addi- 
 tional 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 2rf., and this would bring in the sum of 6,230/. All that 
 now pay 2rf. paying an additional penny would yield 8,923/. Threepenny 
 letters paying another penny would produce 33,963/. The increase of four- 
 penny letters would produce 34,248/." The cross-roads he could not speak of 
 with great certainty, but he thought they might calculate on at least 20,000^. 
 from that source, and so on, till the estimated sum was reached. 
 
Disposal of Post-office Revenue. 115 
 
 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 much the same words in the 
 first session of his 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 same conditions. In addition 
 to the proper charges appertaining to the Post-office, we find it 
 was customary during the reign of the first Georges, as well as 
 earlier sovereigns, to make certain payments out of the receipts 
 before the balance was applied in the manner above spoken of. 
 It would seem, in fact, that grants were made out of the Post- 
 office funds, and placed to "incidents," when it was thought 
 necessary to keep the items out of the public sight, or when it 
 was thought undesirable to establish precedents. Thus, in 1723, 
 an allowance of 200?. a year is made to a Mr. French, to aid 
 him in keeping up a lighthouse " on the rock called Sherries, 
 near Holyhead." Mr. Goodman, Secretary of the Post-office, is 
 allowed large sums to pay for " secret service." Lord Chancellor 
 King is, from July 1725, granted an annuity of 6,000?. " for his 
 better and more honourable support." George Tilson is appointed 
 (1726) to the office of " Eegister and Keeper of the Papers and 
 Records of State," his salary of 400?. per annum to be charged 
 to Post-office incidents. 1 From 1739 to 1746 inclusive, the 
 then Lord Chancellor has 5,000?. a year, Mr. Goodman 4,700?. a 
 year for " secret service money," while other persons have dif- 
 ferent amounts placed against their names for services which are 
 not recorded. 2 Though the conditions of the following Act were, 
 in reality, carried out several years previously, when a salary of 
 700,000?. 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 ' Conso- 
 lidated Fund.' " It is scarcely needful to say this arrangement 
 exists at present. 
 
 The Scotch Post-office progressed during the eighteenth cen- 
 tury considerably. In the early part of that century the 
 
 1 Treasury Letter Book, 17151724. 
 
 2 Ibid. 17421759. 
 
 12 
 
1 1 6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 General Post-office was tinder the control of George Main, a 
 jeweller in Edinburgh, who had a salary of 2001. per annum. 
 Under him we find an accountant with 501. yearly, a clerk with 
 501. a clerk's assistant with 25 1. and three letter-carriers or 
 " runners " with 5s. each per week. In 1710, as we have 
 seen, the rates of postage were altered on the settlement of 
 the Post-office, and henceforth the Scotch office became remu- 
 nerative, though it is difficult, from the different sums given by 
 different authorities, to estimate the progress made. It is 
 probable, however, that from 4,000?. in this year, the net revenue 
 gradually increased during the century, till it reached 12,OOOZ. 
 in 1760, and 16,OOOZ. in 1798. In the year 1715 there was a 
 change of management, owing, no doubt, to the following document 
 reaching the English Lords of the Treasury, which, in its way, is 
 curious. It is signed by " Argyll," " Roxburghe," " Montrose," 
 and " Hay." " We are of opinion that it is for His Majesty's 
 service that Mr. Main should be removed from his office of Deputy 
 Postmaster of Scotland, and that Mr. James Anderson be appointed 
 to supply that place." The one was dismissed and the other 
 appointed in this summary manner accordingly. Anderson was 
 a writer to the signet, a man of considerable parts, and well 
 esteemed in the Scotch metropolis. In a large collection of his 
 manuscript papers preserved in the Advocate's library in Edin- 
 burgh, and which, through the kindness of Mr. Halkett, the 
 principal librarian, we have carefully examined, there is a great 
 number of his official letters, which give much interesting in- 
 formation of the details of the Scotch post-office from 1715 to 
 1718. Anderson was evidently a painstaking manager, and it 
 was very much owing to his shrewdness and ability that the 
 first horse-posts were established in Scotland, viz. that between 
 Edinburgh and Stirling. Two years afterwards, the provost and 
 magistrates of Glasgow petitioned the English Postmasters- 
 General for the establishment of such a post between Edinburgh 
 and Glasgow. The English authorities applied to Anderson, 
 who described the benefit it would be to both towns, and assured 
 them it would soon pay its expenses. 1 After some delay the 
 Treasury Lords assented to the measure. In 1716, "the Duke 
 of Argyll, who had supreme control in Scotland, gave orders to 
 1 Treasury Letter Book, 17141720. 
 
The Scotch Post-office. 1 1 7 
 
 Mr. Anderson to place relays of horses from Edinburgh to 
 Inverness, for the purpose of forwarding despatches to, and 
 receiving intelligence from, the army in the Highlands under 
 General Cadogan. These posts worked upon two lines of road 
 the one through Fife and round by the east coast, passing through 
 Aberdeen ; the other took the central road via Perth, Dunkeld, 
 and Blair Athole." 1 These horse-posts were discontinued when 
 the military retired. It was several years before the English 
 method of relays of post-horses and post-boys was resorted to 
 (the fac^ being that the Scotch office could not bear the expense), 
 and thus, tedious as it was, the old style was continued, when it 
 was well known how superior were the English arrangements. 
 Belays were employed on the revenue continuing to show signs 
 of improvement somewhere about the year 1750. 
 
 The tardiness of the mails was only matched by their in- 
 security. In 1738, the Earl of Hay (afterwards Duke of Argyll) 
 writing to Sir Robert Walpole, the Secretary of State, says, " I 
 am forced to send this letter by a servant twenty miles out of 
 town, where the Duke of Argyle's attorney cannot handle it ; 
 and I enclose it to William Stewart." Again, in 1748, the Earl 
 of Hay, having succeeded his brother, seems to have done just 
 as he did before him. The Commander of the forces in Scotland 
 writes to the Secretary of State, " My letters are opened at the 
 post-office at Edinburgh, and I think this is done by order of the 
 noble duke (Argyle), in order to know the secret sentiments of the 
 people of his Grace : if this practice is not stopped, the ministers 
 cannot hope for any real information." Mr. Chambers, writing 
 in 1856, 2 and referring to this latter circumstance, says with 
 great truth, " Considering the present sound administration of 
 the entire national institution by the now living inheritor of that 
 peerage, one cannot without a smile hear Chalmers in his 
 Caledonia tell how the Edinburgh post-office in the reign of the 
 second George ' was infested by two dukes of Argyle? " 
 
 But we must not forget Mr. Anderson and his letters. The 
 letters themselves are very remarkable for clearness, candour, 
 and business-like precision, and, like almost all the official cor- 
 respondence of that period, are very delightful reading. Anderson 
 
 1 Lang's Historical Summary, pp. 11, 12. 
 
 2 Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. iii. 
 
1 1 8 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 was familiar with the leading literary characters of Edinburgh of 
 his day, while his position brought him into contact with others, 
 notably with Sir Richard Steele, then one of the commissioners 
 of forfeited estates of which there would seem to have been no 
 lack at that time. All his subordinates regarded him with great 
 esteem, and the master was evidently proud of it, as the mere 
 existence of the testimonials attests. For an instance among 
 many, the postmaster of Forres, writing to some one in the office 
 in 1717, says, " I am very proud to have the approbation of such a 
 person as Mr. Anderson, and shall ever study to advance the 
 public interests with all possible integrity." The trouble about 
 little things, the circumstantiality, and the naiveU of the follow- 
 ing letter from the chief to the postmaster of Glasgow, his 
 principal subordinate, could not well be surpassed. Acknow- 
 ledging the receipt of some money, the Postmaster-General thus 
 proceeds : 
 
 " You have ruled your account very well, and may continue to do so till 
 your other occasions lead you here, and not come on purpose. (We should 
 think so, Mr. Anderson. Fancy the terrible journey of three days from Glasgow 
 to Edinburgh, to learn how his account book should be ruled !). I'm glad 
 you like the printed directions, and if you have occasion for more let me 
 know. I hope ere long you will be satisfied with something else (promotion 
 seems to be in the wind). I hope the Postmistress of Kilmarnock will do 
 her business well, and follow the good example of her neighbour of Irwin 
 (Irvine). I assure you I am not fond of changes where persons are well 
 affected and acceptable to the neighbourhood. I am glad to hear the poor 
 distressed Postmaster of Paisley is recovering. He has very honestly paid all 
 his bygone monthly bills since my entry." 
 
 Even the milk of human kindness in Anderson can be turned 
 sour by repeated bad conduct and failures. He addressed the 
 postmaster of Perth on his slowness in sending cash more than 
 once, and had at last to write more sharply. The postmaster 
 seems from this letter to have paid his later accounts, but to 
 have left a prior one outstanding ; " when these proceedings are 
 not cleared it looked not like business," and men less exact than 
 the lawyer Postmaster-General will be apt to agree with him. 
 " I must again request you immediately to clear up all matters 
 till Christmas last. There is scarce an account in the office that 
 lies so much unsettled as yours." He further threatens him 
 with worse punishment ; in the meantime he intends to be on 
 
Andersoris Letters. 119 
 
 the safe side, and reminds him that the " bonds of cautionrie " 
 given to his predecessor Mr. Main will not do for him, for he 
 must have the said bonds renewed. About the same time he 
 sends to the postmaster of Hamilton, to dismiss one of the 
 runners for repeated bad conduct. "Besides complaints made 
 by Mr. Thompson, others have complained, both by word and 
 writ, so cannot allow any such to continue in your service, and 
 persuade myself that you will choose such a runner as will do 
 his duty honestly and civilly." " As to the runners," writes he 
 to the postmaster of Inverness, " this carrying of baggage is in- 
 convenient and unbecoming the king's runners, and must be 
 put a stop to." To a neighbouring postmaster who wrote a full 
 account of the robbery of the mail bags by the rebel forces he 
 writes encouragingly. " Your account is very much to my satis- 
 faction, and answers the good character I had of you. ... Be 
 ' assured that your care and fidelity is very acceptable." 
 
 He is " pleased to inform " his brother officer at Dundee that 
 his bag (after 1716) will be sent by the Aberdeen post-runners, 
 and not direct, and the postmaster is delighted ; " I am very 
 glad of it, it having been a great trouble to me being obliged to 
 sitt up three nights in the week, the post having come to this 
 place so untimeously. This will not be after the 24th, for they'll 
 be obliged to keep the tyd." 
 
 Mr. Anderson was not above taking advice from residents 
 near some contemplated post-stage, and at this rude period such 
 advice would not be without a certain value. He is directed by 
 the English Postmasters-General to go to Portpatrick and Port- 
 nessock to examine which of these places would be most con- 
 venient for a packet boat between that part of Scotland and 
 Ireland, and he writes identical letters to the Lairds of Logan 
 and Dunsky telling them that as he is desirous of being fully 
 informed about these matters, " as to what will be best for His 
 Majesty's service and the convenience of his lieges," he would 
 be very glad to meet them on his arrival in their country and 
 take their advice. The former place is chosen, and it remains 
 to this day a small packet station. 
 
 The following application from a gentleman a Mr. Walker, 
 of Galashiels is sufficiently curious, and illustrates well the 
 straits in which some rural districts were then, and long after- 
 
120 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 wards, placed for want of any postal accommodation. The ap- 
 plication was backed by several noblemen and gentlemen in the 
 neighbourhood, who would seem to have agreed to pay all 
 necessary expenses. " Being informed by Mr. Walker that 
 he has a desire to procure your order for keeping a letter-box 
 at his house for serving the country about, we are of opinion 
 that this will be a thing very convenient for the neighbourhood, 
 and will be very satisfied that you order it to be done." 
 
 Despite Mr. Anderson's abilities and very eminent services, 
 he was somewhat unceremoniously dismissed from his office in 
 1718 to make way for Sir John Inglis. Like all other officers 
 in any responsible situation, Anderson left in debt, on account 
 of money owing to him from several country places. In 1726 
 he petitioned the English Treasury Lords to remit him his debt, 
 and to stop an execution which they had made upon his effects, 
 on the ground of his services, " which produced more extra- 
 ordinary work during the two years he was in office than had 
 been in any twenty years before ;" also, because he was very 
 inadequately paid for the work, which had been shown by his 
 successor getting a 100Z. a year more than he had ; and also, 
 because " your petitioner's health is so much impaired (by the 
 troubles of the office during the Rebellion), having contracted a 
 severe rheumatism, which to this day affects him." To make 
 good his case, he appends a memorial, in which is given a list of 
 the services he had rendered to the Post-office. This memorial 
 is very important as presenting a vivid picture of the state 
 of Scotland and the Scotch office, and the modes of operation 
 at that period. Mr. Anderson attributes all his " extraordinary 
 pains " to the Rebellion, for on that account he was " almost 
 hourly receiving and sending expresses from and to London, 
 from and to his Majesty's camp, from and to the commander-in- 
 chief and general officers and lieutenants of counties through 
 the whole country." He then recites how he organized horse- 
 posts to Stirling, to Glasgow, and to Portpatrick from the office 
 of Edinburgh. The following items are curious and interesting : 
 " Sending packet-boats by sea, and expresses by private, trusty 
 hands, when the ordinary post-road was not safe, by the rebels 
 having sent scouts and spies to intercept pacquets and letters." 
 Then he tells how he did work which nothing but the exigencies 
 
The Edinburgh Post-office. 121 
 
 of war or treason would excuse, namely, " by direction to open 
 all letters that came from or went to the places which the rebels 
 were in possession of, and to make what discoveries he could of 
 persons and things of concern at that time," and how he did 
 intercept letters " of great consequence, which is known and 
 can be well vouched." Nor was this all in this direction, 
 inasmuch as he "was ordered by the commander-in-chief in 
 Scotland, and by the governors of the Post-office in London, 
 to pick up and get what intelligence he could, wherein he 
 bestowed not only much pains, but also was at expense not 
 proper to be brought into the office accounts;" somewhat dis- 
 reputable work, we are afraid, yet " very acceptable," "as is well 
 known, for which he received many letters of thanks from the 
 governors, who carried several (of his letters) to Court, and 
 some of them were so satisfying as to be printed by authority, 
 and for which he had also thanks from the Secretary's office." 
 This was somewhat special service into which he was impressed, 
 but "with what care and despatch he managed his proper 
 province is sufficiently known, both to His Majesty's civil and 
 military officers employed in Scotland to suppress that unnatural 
 rebellion." Then secresy was " so absolutely necessary that he 
 had to apply himself night and day to the service, so, as he can 
 with great truth and sincerity affirm, that for several months he 
 had never two hours uninterrupted rest or quiet by day or 
 night." Whether the authorities pressed the case or not against 
 him we have no means of knowing, for the official letter book is 
 silent as to the result of his application. 1 No man of the period 
 deserved better of his superiors. 
 
 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 carrying letters to different parts of the city, it struck 
 him to begin a regular post similar to the London one, with 
 hourly deliveries, and for this purpose he established agents 
 at different parts of the city to collect letters. He employed 
 four letter-carriers, who appeared in uniform, to gather the letters 
 from the agents and then to deliver them as addressed. The 
 i Treasury Letter Book, 1715 to 1724, pp. 260263. 
 
122 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 undertaking was very successful, and other speculators were 
 beginning to think of rival establishments, when the Post-office 
 authorities stepped in and succeeded in inducing Williamson to 
 take a pension for the goodwill of the concern, and then merged 
 it in the general establishment. 
 
 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, two or three letter- 
 carriers doing all the out-door work. 1 The Post-office was 
 removed to its present situation in 3821. Towards the close 
 of 1865, it is expected the handsome building now rising will 
 be finished and opened for postal purposes. 2 
 
 1 Chambers', Traditions of Edinburgh, p. 124-. 
 
 2 It will be remembered that the late lamented Prince Consort laid the 
 foundation-stone of this structure in 1862, this being the last occasion on 
 which he assisted at any public ceremony. 
 
The Post-Boys. 123 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 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 
 indispensable that we not only give some account of the system 
 of mail conveyance before his time, but also that we notice the 
 progress which had been made in the internal communications 
 of the country. 
 
 The past fifty years of which we have spoken in previous 
 chapters, might have been named the "post-boy period," for 
 during all this time the post-boy, whom the poet Cowper has 
 immortalized, rode his slow and weary way, the system, how- 
 ever, year by year growing more painfully inadequate and 
 inefficient. Cowper, on the score of the importance of his occu- 
 pation, invests the picture of the post-boy with considerable 
 interest : 
 
 " He comes, the herald of a noisy world, 
 With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks, 
 News from all nations lumbering at his back. 
 True to his charge, the close-packed load behind, 
 Yet careless what he brings, his one concern 
 Is to conduct it to the destined inn, 
 And, having dropped th' expectant bag, pass on. 
 He whistles as he goes, light hearted wretch, 
 Cold and yet cheerful ; messenger of grief 
 Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some ; 
 To him indifferent, whether grief or joy." 
 
 It comes, however, within the province of history to relate in 
 sober prose how these post-boys, as a rule, were without dis- 
 cipline, difficult to control, sauntered on the road at pleasure, 
 
124 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 and were quite an easy prey to any robber or ill-disposed person 
 who might think it worth their while to interfere with them. 
 It was not an unfrequent complaint within the period, from the 
 surveyors who tried to manage them, that the gentry encouraged 
 many in their irregularities ; one of them complains dolorously 
 to head-quarters that gentlemen on the roads " do give much 
 money to the riders, whereby they be very subject to get in 
 liquor, which stopes the males" 
 
 In the matter of speed the post-boys seem to have ridden 
 slower towards the end of the century than they did at the 
 commencement of it. Mr. Allen engaged that his boys should 
 all travel at the rate of five miles an hour ; after his death, 
 however, they seldom realized four miles in that time. " 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, and as 
 an illustration of our particular subject, we cannot do better than 
 take Stowe's advice, and insert here a copy of a Post-office 
 proclamation and time-bill, given in his Surveye of London : 
 
 " Whereas, the management of the postage of letters 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." 
 
 To THE several Postmasters betwixt LONDON AND EAST GRINSTEAD. 
 Haste, Haste, Post Haste ! 
 
 MILES. 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 From the Letter Office at half-past two in the morning, 
 July 17, 1719. 
 
 .Received at Epsom half an hour past six, and sent away 
 three-quarters past. ALEXANDER FINDLATER. 
 
 Received at Dorking half an hour past Eight, and sent 
 away at nine. CHAS. CASTLEMAN. 
 
 Received at Uygate half an hour past ten, and sent away 
 again at eleven. JOHN BULLOCK. 
 
 Received at East Grinstead at half an hour after three m 
 the afternoon. 
 
Insecurity of the Mails. 125 
 
 The date here given is 1719, but the same arrangements 
 held good in every respect for fully sixty years. The East 
 Grinstead mail would probably be more punctual than the rest, 
 seeing that it was forwarded from and returned to head-quarters. 
 Few post-boys, however, travelled five miles an hour punctually, 
 when Mr. Palmer essayed to improve the service. Expresses 
 during the period might be supposed to have travelled quicker 
 than the ordinary post, yet when in the reign of Queen Anne. 
 Mr. Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford) complained of delay in 
 an express which had been sent to him by Lord Dartmouth, 
 Secretary of State, the Postmasters- General thought there were 
 no grounds for complaint, inasmuch "as it had travelled 136 
 miles in thirty-six hours, which," added they, " is the usual rate 
 of expresses." 
 
 When we add to their slowness and inefficiency the insecurity 
 of the mails, there can be little wonder that plans were forth- 
 coming for a change of system. The post-boys were continually 
 being robbed, and they had not the means, if ever they had the 
 will, to make the least opposition. A robbery of the Portsmouth 
 mail, in 1757, illustrates the carelessness and incompetency of 
 the officers employed. The boy who carried the mail 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 
 via Dover was once stopped, and rifled before it had got clear of 
 London. In another case the post-boy bringing in the Dunkirk 
 mails was set upon at night-time by some foot-pads between 
 Southwark and Deptford, who took from him both horse and 
 mails, the letters being found afterwards opened and scattered 
 about near the spot. It must be added, however, that there was 
 little help for raw, unarmed post-boys, when carriages were 
 stopped in broad daylight in Hyde Park, and even in Piccadilly, 
 and pistols pointed at the breasts of the nobility and gentry 
 living close at hand ! Horace Walpole relates a robbery of this 
 kind as happening to himself in Hyde Park in broad daylight, 
 when he was riding with Lord Eglinton and Lady Albemarle. 
 
 We should cease to wonder at these irregularities could the 
 difficulties attending travelling be properly pictured. In 1703, 
 
126 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 when Prince George of Denmark went from Windsor to Petworth 
 to meet Charles III. of Spain, he was fourteen hours in going 
 forty miles, the last nine miles of road for the more remote 
 from the metropolis the worse the roads invariably became 
 requiring no less than six. The early writer who records this 
 fact says that the long time was the more surprising, as except 
 when overturned, or when stuck fast in the mud, his royal 
 highness and retinue made no stop during the journey. 1 Twenty 
 years after this period the road between London and Brentford 
 was considered a fair average road, yet, when in 1727 George II. 
 and Queen Caroline took to it, they were a whole night travelling 
 from the palace at Kew to that of St. James's. Between Ham- 
 mersmith and Fulham they were overturned, and both the elector 
 and electress were pitched into a quagmire. To illustrate this 
 part of our subject, we cannot do better than turn to the pages of 
 Arthur Young, 2 a famous traveller of last century, who journeyed 
 between London and the North of England by two different 
 routes, to report upon the progress of agricultural pursuits. No 
 reader of Young but will be amused as well as enlightened by 
 his account of the roads of that period, and the vigorous lan- 
 guage he makes use of in describing them. It would be impossible 
 to, avoid the reflection that under these difficulties, post-office 
 work, so dependent on the facilities for locomotion, would go on 
 far from smoothly in the localities described. About half the 
 roads upon which he travels are designated as " good," and 
 " very good." Of the remainder we will make a list, and add 
 his lucid and forcible descriptions. He takes the great north 
 road, and makes several detours to visit the different agricultural 
 districts : 
 
 To Luton ; the cross-road execrable. 
 
 To Dunstable ; a cross-road, very indifferent. 
 
 To Bedford ; turnpike : a vile, narrow, cut-up lane. 
 
 To Kimbolton; very shabby. 
 
 To Thrapstone ; a cross-road ; but so so, much cut up. 
 
 To Grimsthorpe ; cross-road ; very bad ; at one part of it over 
 a common, with roads pointing nine ways at once, and no 
 direction-post. 
 
 1 Our Queen can go from Windsor to Balmoral, or near 600 miles, in 
 about the same time, with every comfort and convenience. 
 
 2 Tour in the North of England, vol. iv. pp. 573582. 
 
Condition of the Roads. 127 
 
 To Colsterworth ; most execrably vile ; a narrow causeway, 
 cut into ruts, that threaten to swallow us up. 
 
 To Wakefield ; indifferent ; through the town of Wakefield 
 so bad that it ought to be indicted. Most of the Yorkshire roads 
 are favourably spoken of, but there are some exceptions, that 
 
 To Medley ; a cross-road, being a line of vile deep ruts cut 
 into the clay. 
 
 To Temple Newsham ; the road is a disgrace to the whole 
 country. 
 
 To Castle Howard ; infamous. I was near being swallowed 
 up in a slough. 
 
 " From Newton to Stokesley in Cleveland," says Young, " is 
 execrably bad. You are obliged to cross the moors they call 
 Black Hambledon, over which the road runs in narrow hollows, 
 that admit a south-country chaise with such difficulty that I 
 reckon this part of the journey made at the hazard of my neck. 
 The going down into Cleveland is, beyond all description, 
 terrible ; for you go through such steep, rough, narrow, rocky 
 precipices, that I would sincerely advise any friend to go a 
 hundred miles to escape it. The name of this pass is very 
 judicious, Scarihneck, that is, Scare-nick, or frighten the devil." 
 Here and there we come across testimonials to country gentlemen 
 to whose public spirit many miles of the good roads Young 
 travelled were owing. Thus: "Bound Swinton, the seat of 
 W. Danby, Esq. the roads are all excellent, that gentleman 
 making and mending with incomparable spirit. Through his 
 own parishes he makes them himself, and bribes others ; he has 
 either made or contributed to twenty miles of good road." He 
 continues : 
 
 From Richmond to Darlington ; part of the great north 
 road ; execrably broke into holes like an old pavement ; sufficient 
 to dislocate one's bones. 
 
 To Morpeth ; a pavement a mile or two out of Newcastle : all 
 the rest vile. 
 
 To Carlisle; cut up by innumerable little paltry one-horse 
 carts. 
 
 When Young reaches Lancashire through Westmorland, his 
 indignation knows no bounds. From Preston to Wigan the 
 road is " infernal." " I would most seriously caution all travellers 
 
128 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 overthrows or breakings-down." 
 From Wigan to Warrington the road is even worse ; " any 
 person would imagine the boobies of the country had made it 
 with a view to immediate destruction." Here we close this 
 terrible picture, to notice how soon these things were changed, 
 and the difficulties to a free postal communication gradually 
 removed. 
 
 The growth of trade and the spread of commerce among the 
 richer classes of the community were the means of opening out 
 the country in all directions. Peers and rich commoners shared 
 the amusements of trade and speculation with the duties of 
 civil government ; such men as the Duke of Bridgewater did 
 incalculable service towards the development of the resources of 
 the country. Civil engineering under such patronage acquired 
 the dignity of a profession. This was the age of Brindley and 
 Smeaton, Rennie and Telford, Watt and Boulton. Blind old 
 Metcalfe, whose name should be placed even before that of 
 Macadam, took to road-making in the north ; and had Young 
 made a second Tour he would have found Yorkshire, at any 
 rate, more to his liking. In every district of the kingdom, even 
 the most remote, roads, the veins of a nation, were constructed 
 on the best principle then known ; bridges were built in all parts 
 of the country ; the Bridgewater and other canals were opened 
 for traffic, whilst many more of all these good works were pro- 
 jected. Moreover and this is perhaps more germane to our 
 special subject many decided improvements were apparent in 
 the means of conveyance at the same time. 1 While, on the one 
 
 1 No one who has read Roderick Random can forget the novelist's descrip- 
 tion of his hero's ride from Scotland to London. As it is generally considered 
 to be a veritable account of a journey which Smollett himself made early in the 
 century, the reader may be of opinion that there was abundance of room for 
 the improvement here spoken of. Roderick, however, travelled in the " stage 
 waggon" of that time. He and his faithful friend Strap having observed one 
 of these waggons a quarter of a mile in advance of them, hurried on, and 
 speedily overtook it, when ascending by means of the usual ladder at the end 
 of the waggon, they "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 lady, " with a 
 separate supper;" but the impartial innkeeper was adverse to this, saying, he 
 " had prepared victuals for the passengers in the waggon, without respect of 
 
Improvements in Coaches. 129 
 
 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 enter- 
 prising 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 
 this designation to the fact that its proprietors contemplated 
 running it at the accelerated speed of about five miles an hour. 
 It started with the following remarkable prospectus: " However 
 incredible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring acci- 
 dents) arrive in London in four days and a half after leaving 
 Manchester." The Scotch people were behind the English in 
 stage-coach accommodation. In May, 1734, however, a com- 
 paratively spirited effort was made in this respect, when John 
 Dale announced in Edinburgh (with an indefiniteness pleasanter 
 to read about than to experience, one would think) that a coach 
 would set out from that place " for London towards 1he end of 
 each week, to be performed in nine days, or three days sooner 
 than any coach that travels that road." In 1754, the year of the 
 Manchester " Flying Coach," a new coach was brought out in 
 Edinburgh, though the speed at which it travelled was not meant 
 to eclipse John Dale's. It was of better appearance, however, 
 and the announcement heralding its introduction to the Edin- 
 burgh 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." 1 
 Three years after this, the Liverpool merchants established 
 another " flying machine on steel springs," which was designed 
 to, and did, beat the Manchester one in the matter of speed ; 
 three days only being allowed for the journey from Liverpool to 
 
 persons." Strap walked by the side of the waggon, changing places with his 
 master, when Roderick desired 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, had it not been so coarse. After five days' 
 rumbling in the straw, the passengers get very friendly ; " nothing remarkable 
 happened during the remaining part of our journey, which continued six or 
 seven days longer." 
 
 1 Chambers' Traditions of Edinburgh, vol. i. p. 168. 
 
130 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 London. 1 Sheffield and Leeds followed with their respective 
 "fly-coaches," and by the year 1784 to which year we now 
 more particularly turn our attention they had not only become 
 quite common, but many of them had acquired the respectable 
 velocity of eight miles an hour. 
 
 The post-boy on horseback, travelling at about four miles an 
 hour, had, as we have seen, been an institution since the days of 
 Charles II. and now in the face of the improvements in the 
 means of locomotion, the Post-office- was still clinging to the 
 effete old system. It was destined, however, that Mr. Palmer 
 should bring about a grand change. Originally a brewer, Mr. 
 Palmer was, in 1783, the manager of the Bath and Bristol 
 theatres. This position, at that time, gave him considerable 
 weight in the councils of the city of Bath, where he resided ; 
 and during the time he leased the theatres he was chosen Mayor 
 of Bath. Before the century closed he had married the daughter 
 of the Duke of Kichmond Lady Madeline Gordon and sat in 
 the House of Commons as member for Bath. Mr. Palmer 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 of 
 manager of two large theatres, he became acquainted with the 
 crude and unsatisfactory arrangements of the period, and hence 
 thought of reforms. Having frequently to correspond with 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 
 the Post-office work was done, and he thus came to the conclu- 
 sion that the arrangements for the one might be made to fit in to 
 those of the other. Having once got this notion into his head, 
 Mr. Palmer set about investigating the matter. He set on- foot 
 all kinds of inquiries ; he made journeys in all directions to 
 inspect personally the system of working. He found that letters, 
 for instance, which left Bath on Monday night were not delivered 
 in London till Wednesday afternoon or night ; whereas the stage- 
 coach which left through the day on Monday, arrived in London 
 on the following morning. His journeys in other directions led 
 him to the conclusion that slow and insecure travelling was the 
 1 L'aincs's History of Lancashire. 
 
Mr. Palmer of Bath. 131 
 
 normal condition of the then existing system of mail conveyance. 
 As he afterwards pointed out, he noticed that when tradesmen 
 were particularly anxious to have a valuable letter conveyed with 
 speed and safety, they seldom 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. 
 Then 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 bank-notes, bills of exchange, 
 &c. at twice,, was a source of endless trouble and annoyance, 
 which even might not be effective after all. 
 
 Mr. Palmer, however, was ready ere long with a remedy 
 against tardiness, robbery, and all the other countless defects in 
 the existing arrangements. He at first confided his scheme to 
 Lord Cainden, and that nobleman agreed to recommend him 
 and his schemes to the consideration of Mr. Pitt, who had that 
 year taken the reins of government, and who, besides, had 
 taken charge of the revenue as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 Mr. Palmer was directed to send in a report describing his plan 
 as fully as possible. He commenced by describing the. post-boy 
 system. " The post," he said, " 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 was also unsafe ; robberies were 
 frequent, and he saw not how it could be otherwise if there 
 were no changes. " The mails," continued Palmer, " are gene- 
 rally 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 circum- 
 stances might lead people to suppose, it was simply because 
 thieves had found, after long practice, that the mails were 
 scarcely worth robbing the booty to be obtained being com- 
 paratively 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. 
 K 2 
 
132 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 con- 
 cerned, 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 x which 
 survive we learn how bitterly they resented proposals not 
 coming from themselves. They made many and vehement ob- 
 jections 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." 2 The account 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 surveyors 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 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the Public 
 Offices in ]788. 
 
The Post-office objects to his Plans. 133 
 
 officers brought up in the business of the Post-office. And it is 
 particularly to be hoped," said this gentleman, 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 under- 
 stand 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 system needed re-modelling. Mr. Hodgson, 
 however, and his confreres " 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 
 
134 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 appoint- 
 ment of mail-guards, Mr. Palmer might, but Mr. Hodgson 
 could not, see 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 ex- 
 perience with the post-boys under the regime 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 arrange- 
 ment. " There were no means of preventing robbery with 
 effect, 1 as the strongest cart or coach that could be made, lined 
 and bound with ron, might easily be broken into by deter- 
 mined robbers," and the employment of armed mail-guards 
 would only make matters worse. Instead of affording pro- 
 tection to the mails, the following precious doctrine was incul- 
 cated, 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 
 earlier 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 timeing of the 
 
 1 Post-office robberies had been exceedingly numerous within a few years of 
 the change which Palmer succeeded in inaugurating. Though one prosecu- 
 tion for a single robbery cost the authorities no less a sura than 4,000/. yet 
 tliey regarded the occurrences as unavoidable and simply matters of course. 
 
Mr. Palmer's Plans declared impossible. 135 
 
 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 de- 
 livered 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 1 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 autho- 
 rities, 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. 
 
 1 Mr. M. D. Hill, in Eraser's Magazine : " Tell him," said Lord Chatham to 
 a subordinate, " it is an order from one who treads on impossibilities" 
 
136 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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/. a year, together with a com- 
 mission of two and a half per cent, upon any excess of net 
 revenue over 240,000?. 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 considerably to increase. So great was the im- 
 provement 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, 2 and when they were granted as they appear to 
 have been at once 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, nine, and, at length, to ten 
 miles an hour. 3 
 
 1 Ante, pp. 123, 4. Note. 
 
 2 The Liverpool merchants were the first to petition the Treasury for the 
 new mail coach. "This petition being complied with," says Mr.Buiues in his 
 History of Liverpool, " the letters from London reached Liverpool in thirty 
 hours. The coaches carried four passengers, besides the coachman and guard, 
 both dressed in livery, the Jatter being armed to the teeth, as a security against 
 highwaymen." In October, 1784, York applied tor a mail coach to pass 
 through that place on its way to the north. When it was granted, it went 
 through to Edinburgh. The first "patent" mail coach from Edinburgh to 
 Aberdeen was started in 1798. 
 
 3 This velocity was not attained without much misgiving and distrust on the 
 part of travellers. When the eight miles was increased to ten miles per hour, 
 the public mind was found to be in the different stages of alarm and revolt. 
 Vested interests, as is usual in such cases, indulged in the gloomiest fore- 
 hodings of what would happen to those who should knowingly spurn the ways 
 of Providence. Lord Chancellor Campbell used to relate how he was fre- 
 quently warned against Palmer's mail coaches 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. 
 
Official Squabbles. 137 
 
 Soon after their introduction, and to mark the public appre- 
 ciation of the benefits derived from the new coaches, and the 
 great importance attached to the change, a copper medal 
 "mail-coach halfpenny" was struck. Underneath the re- 
 presentation of the coach and its team of horses at full speed, 
 are the words, " To trade expedition and to property pro- 
 tection," while on the reverse side a dedication as follows : 
 " To J. Palmer, Esq. This is inscribed as a token of gratitude 
 for benefits received from the establishment of mail-coaches." 1 
 
 The opposition to Mr. Palmer's scheme 2 exhibited 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, and espe- 
 cially considering the anomalous position which he held there, 
 did not conduce to the desirable unanimity of feeling. However 
 it was, he appears to have contended almost single-handed against 
 men resolutely opposed to him, and there is less to wonder at 
 that, so goaded and tormented, he should have fallen into their 
 snares. It would seem that, from the terms of his appointment, 
 Mr. Palmer was independent of all control except from the 
 Treasury, and thus placed side by side with the Postmasters- 
 General, with equal responsibility, it was scarcely in the nature 
 of human events that things should go on smoothly. One of the 
 chiefs, Lord Walsingham, grew more and more hostile, and 
 Palmer, who was somewhat hasty, was often provoked almost 
 beyond endurance, and this led him to commit himself almost 
 beyond hope. The story is short, and may soon be given. Lord 
 Walsingham having made an improvident engagement with a 
 small contractor of the name of Wilson, afterwards refused to 
 complete the same. Palmer, ever on the watch to catch them 
 as the Postmasters-General were to trip him, wrote to his deputy 
 in the office to the following effect : " The matter should be 
 quietly to throw the blame upon his lordship : let him be bullied, 
 
 1 We are indebted to the Rev. Thomas E. Crallen, of Newick,near Uckfield, 
 for calling our attention to this halfpenny token, and for kindly forwarding 
 one of them for our inspection. 
 
 2 Since we first described this opposition, we have noticed that Sir Rowland 
 Hill makes admirable use of the same facts before one of the select Com- 
 mittees on Postage, in order to show that it was more than probable that the 
 opposition manifested to his reform might be called forth by the self-same 
 spirit., 
 
138 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 perplexed, and frightened, and made apprehensive that his 
 foolish interference may even occasion a rising of the mail prices, 
 and 20,000?. difference to the office. The plan would be to get 
 Wilson aboard, and let him bamboozle his lordship with his 
 slouch, slang, and his blackguard ! " On an occasion subsequent 
 to this, he betrayed a wish, also in writing, to the same deputy, 
 "to put back the business of the department in the same 
 irregular and confused state he found it." After writing these 
 and several more indiscreet letters to his deputy, we have the 
 old, old story : a violent dispute occurred between them, when 
 the deputy communicated the whole of the letters to the Post- 
 masters-General, and Palmer was at once suspended. On the 
 letters being submitted to the Treasury Lords, it was deemed 
 desirable that he should surrender his appointment. A pension 
 of 3,OOOZ. a year was granted to him in consideration of his 
 valuable services. Subsequently he memorialized the Govern- 
 ment, setting forth that his pension fell far short of the emolu- 
 ments which had been promised him. On the other hand, it 
 was stated that Palmer had never made but a verbal agreement, 
 and that with Mr. Prettyman, Mr. Pitt's private secretary ; and 
 that if that gentleman had promised him 2-^ per cent, for life on 
 all future increased revenue he had no authority to do so. His 
 petition, therefore, met with no success at the time. Mr. Palmer 
 never ceased to protest against this treatment ; and his son, 
 Major-General Palmer, frequently urged his claims before Par- 
 liament, until, in 1813, after a struggle of twenty years, the 
 House of Commons voted him a grant of 50,OOOZ. In the course 
 of these discussions Palmer was often eulogized, if he was not 
 successful in getting redress. In one of the debates the great 
 minister himself said : "I always conceived I was best serving 
 the interests of the public, by following the plans laid down by 
 Mr. Palmer." Mr. Sheridan once said : " No man in this 
 country, or any other, could have performed such an under- 
 taking but that very individual, John Palmer;" and another 
 member followed and said with some truth that " Mr. Palmer's 
 only fault was an overhasty and improvident zeal to do, without 
 regard to his own interests, whatever good it was in his power to 
 achieve for his country." 
 
 Now that Mr. Palmer was gone from the Post-office, his 
 
Result of the Plans. 139 
 
 scheme was left to unwilling hands. Though we know not what 
 the country lost in losing the guiding spirit, it is a matter for 
 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 thanks to the vigilant supervision of Mr. Pitt, who had 
 let the reformer go, but had no intention of letting his reforms 
 go with him fully adhered to until the fact of their success 
 became patent alike to both the public and the official mind. 
 Mr. Palmer himself blamed Mr. Todd, the Secretary of the 
 Post-office, for the greatest part of the thwarting and the oppo- 
 sition which he experienced. How far this is true we have not 
 been able to discover, though we do find Mr. Todd, who was 
 secretary and assistant-secretary for about half a century, spoken 
 of as " a man of singular abilities, and generally beloved." 
 
 In the first year of the introduction of the new system, the net 
 revenue of the Post-office was about 250,000?. Thirty years 
 afterwards the proceeds had increased sixfold, to no less a sum 
 than a million and a half sterling ! Though, as a matter of course, 
 this great increase is partly attributable to the increase of popu- 
 lation, 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 most successful, the result, in other respects, was no 
 less certain and gratifying. 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 their number was augmented between 
 the largest towns. Other spirited reforms went on most vigorously. 
 Three hundred and eighty towns, which had had before but three 
 deliveries a week, now secured 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. In Edinburgh a propor- 
 tionate increase took place. 1 The London establishment had, in 
 
 1 Sir Walter Scott relates that a friend of his remembered the London 
 
140 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 1800, increased quite twofold in every one of its departments. 
 We find there were at this time 18 principal staff appointments, 
 62 clerks, 25 messengers, 130 inland letter-carriers, 30 super- 
 numeraries, and 28 foreign letter-carriers. " The immense num- 
 ber of letters despatched nightly from hence," says one writer 
 " excite sensations of astonishment in the mind of the bystander, 
 that can only be exceeded by the rapidity and accuracy with 
 which every part of the duty is managed. All the parts of this 
 wonderful piece of mechanism are upon the same expeditious 
 and accurate plan as at the main source." Seeing the rapid 
 strides which the Post-office had taken during the last century, 
 we can well understand the satisfaction of our author, 1 who thus 
 continues, " It is one of the best organized engines of finance 
 existing under any Government. It has been gradually brought 
 (and to this our readers are witnesses) from the first exertions of 
 individuals, replete with abuses, irregularity, and uncertainty, to 
 its present state of perfection, and is now not only a source of 
 great profit to Government, but commerce derives from its 
 establishment a facility of correspondence which could not be 
 effected by means less powerful or less regular." 
 
 The mails under the new system travelled with great security. 
 For many years after their introduction, not a single attempt 
 was made, in England, to rob Palmer's mail-coaches. It is note- 
 worthy, however, though scarcely wonderful, 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 road, 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 and 
 
 letter-bap: arriving in Edinburgh, during the year 1745, with but one letter 
 for tlie British Linen Company. About the same time the Edinburgh mail 
 is said to have arrived in London, containing but one letter, which was 
 addressed to Sir William Pulteney, the banker. 
 1 Microcosm of London, vol. ii. p. 228. London, 1800. 
 
Road Improvement. 141 
 
 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, 1 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 insurmount- 
 able. Though the difficulties consequent on travelling, at the 
 beginning of the present century, were comparatively trifling on 
 
 1 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 con- 
 veyance of mails in their own hands, getting certain allowances for the service 
 from Government, and then arranging for carriage in the cheapest way possi- 
 ble) to let him carry their mails. This he did at a cheap rate, stipulating, 
 however, that he should not be required to run his cars at any inconvenient 
 time for passenger traffic. On the amalgamation of the English and Irish 
 Offices in 1830, Mr. Biunconi, who had now established a good reputation, 
 entered into contracts with the general authorities to continue the work, 
 though on a larger scale than ever, the extent of which may be judged by 
 the fact that in 1848 he had 1,400 horses employed. The growth and extent 
 of railway communication necessarily affected his establishment, but, with 
 unabated activity, Mr. Bianconi directed his labours into new districts when 
 his old roads were invaded by the steam-engine and the rail. He is described 
 to have been " ready at a moment's notice to move his horses, cars, and men 
 to any district, however remote, where any chance of business might show 
 itself." A year or two ago this indefatigable man was still busy, and held 
 several postal contracts; his establishment (1860) consisting of 1,000 horses, 
 and between sixty and seventy conveyances, daily travelling 3,000 or 4,000 
 miles and traversing twenty-two counties. 
 
142 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 at 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 Parlia- 
 ment. 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 Govern- 
 ment 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 Koad Commissioners the improve- 
 ments 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 been 
 made in this respect, considering the previously wretched 
 state of both countries, Scotland especially. It is an instance 
 of the truth of the saying, that no national calamity is an un- 
 mixed evil, that the best turnpike roads in Scotland owe their 
 existence to General Wade and the rebellion. Wade, with most 
 commendable diligence, employed his soldiers, both before and 
 a little subsequent to their disbanding, to construct several 
 " military roads," which are still the delight of tourists. The 
 famous distich on the obelisk at Fort William may be said to 
 
The Glasgow Coach. 143 
 
 express no more than the truth in relation to the road between 
 Inverness and Inverary : 
 
 *' Had you seen this road before it was made, 
 You'd lift up your hands and bless General Wade." 
 
 Still the progress was not so decided as in England. The diffi- 
 culties encountered in travelling in some parts of Scotland, fully 
 related in the valuable reminiscences of Lord Cockburn and Dr. 
 Alexander Carlyle, serve to show how much remained to be 
 done, even far into the present century. Lord Cockburn, indeed, 
 says that " those who are born to modern travelling can scarcely 
 be made to understand how the previous age got on." He tells 
 how he rode circuit so late as 1810; how the Bar sometimes 
 rode miles about for want of bridges and good roads ; and how 
 there was no mail-coach north of Aberdeen till after the battle 
 of Waterloo. 1 Carlyle, in his Autobiography, tells us how 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 
 now known as the west coast route, via Carlisle. 2 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 
 
 1 Memorials of his Time, vol. i. p. 341. 
 
 2 Dr. Cleland, in his Statistical Account of Glasgow, tells us that, before this 
 time, viz. in 1787, the course of post from London to Glasgow was by way of 
 Edinburgh, five days in the week. Only five mails arrived in Glasgow from 
 London on account of no business being transacted at the Edinburgh Office 
 on Sundays. It now occurred, however, to some one of the astute managers 
 of the Post-office, that the sixth, mail, which the Sunday regulations of the 
 Edinburgh Office prevented being passed through that medium, might be sent 
 by the mail-coach to Carlisle, while a supplementary coach should travel 
 every sixth night between Carlisle and Glasgow. This was done, and the 
 result was the saving of an entire day between London and Glasgow. The 
 other mails continued, as usual, for twelve months longer, it having taken the 
 authorities the whole of that time to discover that the five mails, which 
 required Jive days to reach Glasgow by way of Edinburgh, might, like the 
 sixth, be carried by way of Carlisle, in four days. Dr. Cleland, however, does 
 not seem to have perceived that there might be some other reason for adhering 
 to the old route, such as increased outlay, &c. 
 
144 -Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 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 1 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 it 
 over the remaining distance. The survey lasted many years. 
 A hundred miles of the new Great North Road, south of York, 
 were laid out in a perfectly straight line. 2 All the requisite 
 arrangements were made for beginning the work, when the talk 
 of locomotive engines and tramways, of an untutored genius who 
 was working wonders among the coal-pits of the North, and 
 especially of a race with iron horses at Rainhill, in 1829, had 
 the effect of directing public and official attention to another 
 and more promising method of travelling. All this happened, 
 and very fortunately, just in time to prevent the outlay of an 
 enormous sum for the contemplated high road ; while it required 
 but little time to develop the railway system, and demonstrate 
 its usefulness to the postal system of the country. 
 
 But we are somewhat anticipating matters, and must, at any 
 rate, allude to the services of Mr. Macadam. The improvements 
 which this gentleman and his three sons brought about in road 
 making had a very sensible effect on the operations of the mail- 
 coach system. The Postmaster-General, the Secretary of the 
 Post-office, and the Superintendent of Mail-coaches all testified 
 in official papers, and in a Committee of the House of Commons 
 (which sat in 1819 to consider a petition of Mr. Macadam for 
 
 1 Life of Robert Owen. Written by himself. London, 1857. 
 
 2 Smiles' Lives of the Engineers, vol. ii. 
 
Mail Coaches. 145 
 
 remuneration) "to the direct advantage and great benefit" that 
 the Post-office work received from the good roads which were 
 the result of their united labours. 1 Mr. Macadam received but 
 scant justice from the Government, and, besides, his labours were 
 soon rendered fruitless by the iron roads ; the wits of London 
 bestowed upon him the title of "Colossus of Rhodes," but he 
 received but little substantial benefit from his invention. 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 
 any road was finished on the new principle. From this time the 
 average speed, including stoppages, was nine miles an hour, all 
 but a furlong. The fastest coaches (known as the "crack coaches" 
 from this circumstance, as also from travelling on the best roads) 
 were those, in 1836, running between London and Brighton, 
 London and Shrewsbury (accomplishing 154 miles in 15 hours), 
 London and Exeter (171 miles in 17 hours), London and Man- 
 chester (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 
 about 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 coaches should both be 
 built and furnished on one plan ; hence the " patent coaches," as 
 they were henceforth called. For a number of years, the con- 
 tract for building and repairing a sufficient number was given 
 to Mr. John Vidler, who had suggested many improvements in 
 their construction. Though the Post-office authorities arranged 
 
 1 See Remarks on ike Present System of Road Making, by John Loudoii 
 Macadam, London, 1824, for fuller particulars. 
 
146 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 for building the coaches, the mail-contractors were required to 
 pay for them, the revenue only bearing the charge of cleaning, 
 oiling, and greasing them, an expense amounting to about 
 2,200?. 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. 
 He lost very little by this exclusion, as the mail-coach system 
 had now seen its palmiest days, for " they had begun," in the 
 words of one of the old guards, "to make a gridiron of old 
 England," five years before. The official control of the coaches, 
 mail-guards, &c. it may be here stated, was vested in the 
 superintendent of mail-coaches, whose location was at the 
 General Post-office. 
 
 Any transition from the historical to what we must call the 
 romantic side of our subject, is not so easy for us as we should like 
 it to be ; but we cannot, nevertheless, leave it without attempting 
 to call up a little picture of the past. The last age seems to 
 have been a more social one at any rate when travelling had to 
 be done ; for then the great work of money-making went hand 
 in hand with, and lent his aid to, the supply of wants of a less 
 exigent character. Little do some of us think of what we have 
 lost in losing the old coach and the old roads (for we have 
 virtually lost them), the pride of the Kennies and the Telfords 
 of a still prior generation. Then, the hundred little incidents 
 by the road ; the wayside changings ; the hospitable inn, and 
 the fireside gossiping at nights, made travelling enjoyable in a 
 way which the present race of travellers can little understand. 
 If ordinary stage-coach travelling was enjoyable, that of the 
 mail-coach must have been much more so. Herring's pencil has 
 pourtrayed in living colours the old Brighton coach, the " Age," 
 its glittering appearance, its fine stud of blood horses, its real 
 live baronet for driver, and its liveried guard ; and this was no 
 uncommon picture during the first thirty years of the present 
 century, nay, the artist might have found even a grander and 
 more imposing subject for his pencil among its contemporaries. 
 That some of the men who acted as Jehus and guards should 
 have done so through all kinds of weather, proves that there must 
 have been something strangely attractive in the life they led. 
 The Brighton road was especially fortunate in its choice of 
 
The Old Mail-Guard. 147 
 
 aristocratic drivers. Besides Sir Vincent Cotton, who drove 
 the "Age," the Marquis of Worcester, father of the present 
 Duke of Beaufort, drove the " Beaufort," while the Hon. Fred. 
 Jerningham, a son of Lord Stafford, drove the Brighton day 
 mail. Nor should we fail to relate that, though no fees were 
 solicited on these coaches, all of them pocketed their "tips" 
 with as much readiness and relish as would the poorest of their 
 congeners. A second baronet drove from London into the north 
 for a short time, taking turns for several months with a clergy- 
 man the well-known " Parson Wells," who drove the London 
 and Leeds mail between London and Bedford. Another gentle- 
 man, who subsequently rose to eminence in the profession of the 
 law, and who is now on the Bench, preferred to hold the reins 
 of a fine stud attached to a Northern mail-coach, to being held 
 in certain leading-strings, and this he is said to have done for 
 six months, until college doors were once more shut upon him. 
 
 Though sometimes so distinguished, the driver's place on the 
 mail was an inferior one in point of position to that of the 
 guard. The guard invariably wore the royal livery, which was 
 a kind of official warrant for the performance of his high duties ; 
 the coachman was sometimes clothed in scarlet, but only as an 
 honorary distinction after long or some special service. The 
 class of guards, though in a remarkable way punctilious in the 
 matter of their dignity, keeping aloof in their solitary seat from 
 too much contact with the passengers, were an intelligent and 
 eminently trustworthy body of men. Commissions of great 
 importance were oftentimes intrusted to them. The country 
 banker, for example, would trust them with untold wealth. 
 Though paid only a nominal sum by the Post-office authorities 
 for their official services (at least, till within the last few years 
 of the system, when railways began to exert a depressing influence 
 on their takings), they were enabled to make their position and 
 place as lucrative as they were responsible, by the help of the 
 regular perquisites and other accidental windfalls which we 
 need not further specify. But it would not be fair to this fine 
 old-world class of men to omit to speak of their duties, how 
 onerous, and difficult, and hazardous they sometimes were ; of 
 the wear-and-tear and fatigue they occasionally underwent ; of 
 the cases of difficulty, such as breakages, overturnings, floods, 
 L2 
 
148 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 and snow-storms, when they went through the worst hardships 
 in a manful and persevering way. Having known several of 
 these men, it .has struck us as a curious study, how whilst pn 
 duty they would be wrapped in a real or imagined superiority, 
 be brusque and somewhat domineering, whom to jest with 
 would be difficult, whom to " chaff" dangerous, yet in all other 
 respects they should ever be the first to brave any danger, and 
 show concern for the amenities of social life. We have by us, as 
 we write, several records 1 of those fearful snow-storms that 
 occurred in Scotland twenty and thirty years ago, and they bear 
 ample testimony to the extreme patience, self-sacrifice, and 
 diligence of this class of men. One of them tells how a mail- 
 coach having travelled during a driving snow-storm as far as it 
 could advance, the guard, as the custom was in such cases, took 
 the bags with him on horseback for some miles further, and 
 that then the horse, sinking deeper at every step, it was sent 
 back to the coach, while he essaying to carry the bags on foot, 
 was found with them round his neck next morning quite dead. 
 Other cases occur where coachmen and guards, if not passengers, 
 are condemned for days to the coarsest of prison fare among the 
 solitudes of the Scotch hills. Mails arriving in the far north of 
 Scotland with seven days' arrears of bags was no uncommon 
 occurrence, and this was even considered commendable in some 
 seasons, and " would never have been accomplished but through 
 the vigorous never-ceasing exertions " of the men who had them 
 in charge, " who left no scheme untried to get the roads made 
 passable." We would willingly linger over this subject, and 
 endeavour to show how much the Post-office owed to the perse- 
 verance, the hardihood, and devotion to duty of the old mail- 
 guards, but we must hasten on. 
 
 In these days of cheap postage, and newspapers in every 
 household, it may be difficult to comprehend the intense interest 
 centreing in the appearance of His Majesty's mail-coach on any 
 of the lines of road, and more especially on its arrival at the 
 several provincial towns. On any day the coach was no common 
 object ; in times of excitement its appearance was the cause of 
 
 1 Kindly furnished by Mr. John Rodford, at that time the Inspector of Mail 
 Coaches in Scotland. Few snow-storms, however, can have exceeded in 
 severity those of the present winter (1865). 
 
Mail Coaches at the General Post-office. 149 
 
 anxiety or joy to thousands. It was the national and autho- 
 rised organ for publishing the first news of any great national 
 event. " The mail-coach it was," says De Quincey, 1 " that dis- 
 tributed over the face of the land, like the opening of apocalyptic 
 vials, the heart-shaking news of Trafalgar, of Salamanca, of 
 Vittoria, of Waterloo." When the coaches took down into the 
 country the first news of any of the numerous victories achieved 
 by English valour on the Continent, they were dressed in laurels 
 and flowers, oak-leaves and ribbons, and these emblems told 
 the well-known tale throughout the whole course. " The grand- 
 est chapter in our experience," says one who often rode the 
 coaches between 1805 and 1815 (a memorable period for the 
 English arms) " was on those occasions when we went down from 
 London with the news of victory." " Five years of life," adds 
 this eloquent and enthusiastic writer, " it was worth paying 
 down for the privilege of an outside place on a mail-coach, 
 when carrying down the first tidings of any such event." 
 During the trial of Queen Caroline, Miss Martineau tells us 2 " 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." Again, at the different stages in the history 
 of the Reform Bill, the mail-roads were sprinkled over, mile 
 after mile, with people on the qui vive for the smallest instal- 
 ment of news from London, and the coachmen and guards on 
 the top of the coaches shouted out the tidings. 
 
 We have said that on any day these coaches attracted no 
 ordinary attention. Beginning with London, throughout the 
 whole route, to the completion of their mission, their course was 
 always a triumphant one ; they were cheered on leaving, eagerly 
 looked for, and eagerly welcomed. The spectacle which the 
 coaches presented when, prior to their despatch to the provinces, 
 they were assembled on parade before the General Post-office is 
 said to have been very beautiful, while on unusual occasions, when 
 they were decked out to denote a victory, and crowds cheered 
 at every step, the scene was doubly grand. " The absolute per- 
 fection," says De Quincey, " of all the appointments about the 
 carriage and the harness, their strength, their brilliant cleanli- 
 
 1 Selections, Grave and Gay. English Mail Coach, p. 290. 
 
 2 History vf England during ike Thirty Years 1 Peace, vol. i. p. 257. 
 
150 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 ness, their beautiful simplicity but, more than all, the royal 
 magnificence of the horses, were what first fixed the attention." 
 Daily each part of every carriage had been very critically ex- 
 amined by a regular inspector ; every morning they were 
 thoroughly cleaned ; every morning the horses were groomed 
 up to a degree of perfection in such matters not usually attained, 
 and altogether the sight was one which no one seeing could ever 
 forget. 
 
 It only remains to notice the annual procession of mail-coaches 
 on the king's birthday, which we are assured was a gay and 
 lively sight. " The cavalcade," says a writer in the earlier part 
 of the century, " was a far more agreeable and interesting sight 
 to the eye and to 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 Everyday Book, writing of 1822, tells us that George IV. who 
 was born August 4, changed the celebration of his birthday to 
 St. George's Day, April 23. " 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 post-men and 
 post-boys on horseback arrayed in scarlet coats and jackets, go 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 and coachmen ; while the post-boys, 
 sounding their bugles and cracking their whips, bring up the 
 rear. From the commencement of the procession, the bells of 
 the neighbouring churches ring out merrily, and continue their 
 rejoicing peals till it arrives at the Post-office again, from whence 
 the coaches depart to the different parts of the country." This 
 very plain description of what must have been a most lively and 
 interesting sight would hold good for many years subsequently, 
 in fact, until the coaches were taken off the roads. Great 
 numbers assembled to witness the procession, which was, to the 
 stranger in London especially, an object of great moment. 
 Many country squires, who were always anxious that their best 
 
The Annual Procession. 151 
 
 horses should have a few turns in the mail-coaches in travelling, 
 sent up their horses to figure in the procession, and they would 
 doubtless add much, in the eyes of the experienced in horse- 
 flesh, to the grandeur of the turn-out. The appearance of the 
 coachmen and guards, got up to every advantage, each with an 
 enormous bouquet of flowers in his bran-new scarlet uniform, 
 would be in keeping with the brilliancy of the newly-painted 
 coach, emblazoned with the royal arms. 
 
152 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 IT must not be supposed that the improvements in mail- 
 conveyance were the only beneficial changes introduced into 
 the Post-office during the fifty years which we have designated 
 as the mail-coach era. It is true that, compared with the pro- 
 gress of the country in many other respects, the period might 
 be termed uneventful. Still, there are incidental changes to 
 chronicle of some importance in themselves, and likewise 
 important in their bearing on the present position of the Post- 
 office. If we retrace our steps to the year 1792, we shall find, 
 for instance, that in that year an entirely new branch of busi- 
 ness was commenced at the General Post-office. We refer to 
 the origin of the Money-order establishment. The beginnings 
 of this system, which, as the reader must be aware, has of kte 
 years assumed gigantic proportions, were simple and unassuming 
 in the extreme. The Government of the day had expressed a 
 desire for the establishment of a medium by which soldiers and 
 sailors might transmit to their homes such small sums as they 
 could manage to save for that purpose. Three officers of the 
 Post-office jointly submitted a scheme to make a part of the 
 Post-office machinery available in this direction, and a monopoly 
 was readily conceded to them. The undertaking was further 
 favoured with the sanction of the Postmasters-General. The 
 designation of the firm was to be " Stow & Co.," each of the 
 three partners agreeing to find a thousand pounds capital. The 
 stipulations made were, that the business should be carried on 
 at the cost and at the risk of the originators, and that they, in 
 return, should receive the profits. It was agreed, also, that 
 they should enjoy the privilege of sending all their correspondence, 
 free of postage no inconsiderable item saved to them. Con- 
 trary to anticipations, the proceeds were considerable not so 
 much on account of the number of transactions, as on the high 
 
The Origin of the Money-order Office. 153 
 
 commission that was charged for the money-orders. Their terms 
 were eightpence for every pound ; but if the sum exceeded two 
 pounds, a stamp-duty of one shilling was levied by Government 
 in addition. No order could be issued for more than five 
 guineas ; and the charge for that sum amounted to four shillings 
 and sixpence, or nearly five per cent. When it is considered 
 that the expense did not end here, but that a letter containing a 
 money-order was subjected to double postage, it cannot be won- 
 dered at that those who dealt with the three monopolists were 
 few in number, and only persons under a positive necessity to 
 remit money speedily. Such a system, it will be admitted, 
 could not of itself .be expected to foster trade. When the 
 general public were admitted to the benefits of the Money- 
 order Office as they were some few years after the establish- 
 ment of the office it does not appear that the business was 
 greatly increased. Almost from the commencement, the managers 
 drew yearly proceeds, which varied but slightly from year to 
 year, averaging about 200?. each. While, on the one hand, this 
 office was seen to be a most useful institution, good in principle, 
 and likely, if properly managed, to contribute largely to the 
 general revenue of the Post-office ; on the other hand, it was 
 clearly stationary, if not retrograde in its movements. In 1834, 
 the attention of practical men was more immediately called to 
 the question by a return which was asked for by the House of 
 Commons, for a detailed account of the poundage, &c. on money- 
 orders of each provincial post-office, and the purpose or purposes 
 to which the monies were applied. The Postmaster-General 
 replied, that the Money-order Office was a private establishment, 
 worked by private capital, under his sanction ; but he could 
 give no returns, because the accounts were not under his control. 
 In 1838, Lord Lich field, being Postmaster-General, obtained the 
 consent of the Treasury to convert the Office into a branch 
 under his immediate direction. In that year the chief Money- 
 order Office commenced business in two small rooms at the 
 north end of St. Martin's-le- Grand, with a staff of three clerks. 
 Though the charges were reduced to a commission of sixpence 
 for sums under two pounds, and of one shilling and sixpence 
 for sums up to five pounds, and although as a farther concession 
 the order was printed on a sheet of paper upon which the letter 
 
154 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 could be written, thus rendering the letter liable to but a single 
 rate of postage, the new branch was worked at a loss. After 
 the introduction of penny postage, the change was so marked, 
 however, that the immense success of this branch of operations 
 may be considered as entirely owing to the reduction of postage- 
 rates. Had the penny-postage scheme, therefore, done no more 
 for the nation than assisted the people in the exercise of a 
 timely prudence and frugality, it would have done much. But 
 we are anticipating an important era. Soon after the passing of 
 the Penny-postage Act, the commission on money-orders was 
 reduced to threepence in place of sixpence, and sixpence for 
 any amount above two and under five pounds. In 1840, the 
 number of money-order transactions had increased to thousands, 
 in the place of hundreds under the old regime. The money 
 passed through the office in the advent year of cheap postage 
 amounted to nearly half a million sterling, the Post-office com- 
 mission on the sum exceeding 6,OOOZ. The rate of increase, 
 subsequently, may be best shown by taking a month's work ten 
 years afterwards. Thus, during one month of 1850, twice as 
 many orders were taken out and paid as were issued and paid 
 during the year 1840, the particulars of which year we have 
 given above. The same rate of increase has continued up to the 
 present moment. During the year 1863, the number, of orders 
 had, in round numbers, risen to more than seven and a half 
 millions, or a money-value exceeding sixteen millions sterling, 
 the commission on the whole amounting to more than one 
 hundred and forty-four thousand pounds. 1 
 
 By the statute of Queen Anne, letters might be brought from 
 abroad by private ships under certain distinctly-specified regu- 
 lations. On the contrary, no law existed enabling the Post- 
 master-General to send bags of letters by the same medium 
 until 1799, when an Act was passed with this object. Masters 
 of such ships refusing to take bags were subjected to heavy 
 penalties. 2 The postage of letters so sent (on account of the 
 
 1 These items are exclusive of those relating to colonial money-orders. 
 
 2 The Government can grant a release to any ship fixed for this service. It 
 will be remembered by many readers that afterthe Peferhoffwas taken by Admiral 
 Wilkes of the United States' Navy, February, 1863, the proprietors of the 
 vessel, who had other ships on the same line (with which the Post-office sent 
 ship-letters), asked the Government for the protection of a mail-officer. On 
 
The General Post-office. 155 
 
 slowness of transit in the majority of cases) was fixed at half 
 the usual rates. This Act is the foundation of the ship-letter 
 system, by means of which, besides the regular packet communi- 
 cation, letters are forwarded to all parts of the world. At the 
 same period the Government rigorously adhered to the law as 
 laid down with regard to letters brought by private vessels. A 
 case was tried in 1806 in the Court of King's Bench " King v. 
 Wilson" in which the defendant a merchant who had had 
 letters brought from the Continent in a ship of his own, and 
 pleaded that he had a right to do so was cast in heavy damages, 
 and told that " all and every such letters, as well as others," 
 must pass through the Post-office in the usual way. 
 
 In the year 1814, the business of the Post-office had increased 
 so greatly, that an agitation was commenced with the object of 
 securing better accommodation for its despatch than was afforded 
 by the office in Lombard Street. The first General Post-office 
 was opened in Cloak Lane, near Dowgate Hill, and removed 
 from thence to the Black Swan in Bishopsgate Street. This 
 office being destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, a General 
 Office was opened in Covent Garden, but it was soon removed 
 to Lombard Street, to a house which just before had been the 
 residence of Sir Thomas Viner, once Lord Mayor of London. 1 
 This house was leased from Sir Thomas and his descendants for 
 terms of seven years. Once it was on the point of being bought 
 by the Government, and Sir Christopher Wren inspected the 
 place for that purpose, but the negotiations were suspended 
 owing to a flaw being detected in the title of the owner. In the 
 eighteenth century several expedients were resorted to, to make 
 the place fitted for the increasing work of the office. At one 
 
 the principle of choosing the least of two evils, and rather than take such 
 a decisive step, which might lead to troubles with the United States' Govern- 
 ment, Earl Russell relieved the Sea Queen from the obligation to carry the 
 usual mail- bag to Matamoras. 
 
 1 The Spectator (Addison's) No. 4-62, relates a curious anecdote of Sir 
 Robert Viner, happening at his house during his mayoralty, when he was 
 honoured, as the custom was, with the presence of " the merry monarch." 
 His Majesty was for retiring after staying the usual time, but his worship, 
 " filled with good liquor and loyalty," laid hold of the king and swore, " Sire, 
 you shall take the other bottle ! " The good-natured king is said to have 
 looked kindly at him over his shoulder, " and with a smile and graceful air to 
 have repeated the line of the old song, 'He that's drunk is as great as a king,' 
 and turning back complied with his landlord's commands." 
 
156 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 period the adjoining house was taken and thrown into the 
 office j 1 and at the expiration of many of the recurring leases, 
 several hundreds of pounds were spent in improvements. It 
 was fully a century and a half before we find any move made 
 for a change from the cramped, ill-regulated, ill-ventilated 
 building to one more suitable to the growing requirements of 
 the service. Nothing, indeed, can better show the stationary 
 character of the Post-office operations stationary compared to 
 the movements which the present age has seen inaugurated 
 than the fact, that year by year, and for so many years, the 
 Post-office authorities contrived to do their work within the 
 walls of this place. 
 
 In 1813, however, it was proposed that a large and commodious 
 building should be specially erected in some central part of the 
 city. In the session of 1814, we find a Mr. Butterworth pre- 
 senting a petition to the House of Commons, from four thousand 
 London merchants, in favour of an early removal of the Post- 
 office from Lombard Street. He was assured, he said, that the 
 present office " was so close and confined, as to be injurious to 
 the health of those concerned ;" he further stated, that "two 
 guineas were expended weekly for vinegar to fumigate the 
 rooms, and prevent infectious fevers." Another member stated 
 that the access to the office was so narrow and difficult, that the 
 mail-coaches were prevented from getting up to it to take the 
 letter-bags. Nor were other advocates needed out of parliament. 
 " Important as the concerns of this establishment," says one 
 author, 2 "are to a commercial nation like our own, the edifice 
 can merit no praise as a building. It is a national reproach," 
 continues our writer, in language none the clearest, " when 
 edifices of this kind, which, from our great mercantile concerns,^ 
 afford occasion for a display of public architecture and ornament 
 to the metropolis, are lost to those purposes." It is curious to 
 note, that even the proposal for this desirable change was con- 
 tested very keenly. The Post-office authorities do not seem to 
 
 1 The letter to the Treasury recommending this course sets forth, " that the 
 officers being more numerous by reason of the great increase of the revenue 
 and the business of the office ; considering also the unseasonable time 
 wherein their attendance is constantly required, we think it necessary that as 
 many as can should have lodging in and about the office." 
 
 2 Microcosm of London, vol. ii. p. 230. 
 
The Duke of Richmond. 157 
 
 have shown any anxiety for change ; whilst counter-petitions 
 were presented to Parliament, stating that the Lombard Street 
 office was convenient enough, and that the movement was got up 
 by interested parties. Several years passed before the discussions 
 ended and preliminary arrangements were made. In 1825, 
 however, Government acquiesced in the views of the majority of 
 London residents, and St. Martin's-le-Grand the site of an 
 ancient convent and sanctuary was chosen for a large, new 
 building, to be erected from designs by Sir R. Smirke. It was 
 five years in course of erection, and opened for the transaction of 
 business on the 25th of September, 1829. The building is of 
 the Grecian-Ionic order, and is one of the handsomest public 
 structures in London. The basement is of granite, but the edifice 
 itself, which is 400 feet in length and 80 feet in width, is built 
 of brick, faced all round with Portland stone. In the centre- is 
 a grand portico with fluted columns, leading to the great hall, 
 which forms a public thoroughfare from St. Martin's-Ie-G-rand to 
 Foster Lane. t 
 
 From the date of the opening of the new General J^o^pfficev ^ ,. , 
 improvements were proposed and carried out very eattj&s^ty,. 
 Under the Duke of Richmond, reforms in the establishme 
 in with considerable vigour. 1 He seems to have been the first 
 Postmaster-General during the present century who thought the 
 accommodation which the Post-office gave to the public was 
 really of a restrictive nature ; that more facility might easily be 
 given to the public ; and that the system of management was an 
 erroneous one. In 1834, the Duke of Richmond submitted a 
 list of improvements to the Treasury Lords, in which there were 
 at least thirty substantial measures of reform proposed. It is 
 true that many of these measures had been strongly recom- 
 mended to him by the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, who 
 had sat yearly on the Post-office and other revenue branches 
 of the public service. The previous policy, however, of the 
 
 1 The Duke of Richmond, though opposed to the Reform Bill, was a mem- 
 ber of Lord Grey's Cabinet. Indefatigable in the service of the department 
 over which he was placed from 1830 to 1834, he refused at first to accept of 
 any remuneration of the nature of salary. In compliance, it is stated, with 
 the strong representation of the Treasury Lords, as to the objectionable 
 nature of the principle of gratuitous services by public officers, " which must 
 involve in many cases the sacrifice of private fortune to official station," His 
 Grace consented to draw his salary from that time only. 
 
158 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 authorities was to put on a bold front against any recommenda- 
 tions not originating with themselves. The Duke of Richmond 
 had considerably less of this feeling than some of his prede- 
 cessors. Thus, to take the principal measure of reform concluded 
 in his time namely, the complete amalgamation of the Scotch 
 and Irish offices with the English Post-office we find that the 
 twenty-third report of the Commissioners, signed by " Wallace," 
 W. J. Lushington, Henry Berens, and J. P. Dickenson, spoke 
 strongly on the inadequacy " of the present system of adminis- 
 tration to reach the different parts of the country," and urging 
 the expediency "of providing against any more conflict of 
 opinion, and of securing a more extended co-operation, as well 
 as unity of design, in the management of the distinct offices of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland." Again, in 1831, on the recom- 
 mendation of the Commission, the Postmaster-General ordered 
 that the boundaries of the London district post which, in 1801, 
 became a "Twopenny Post," and letters for which post, if 
 delivered beyond the boundaries of the cities of London and 
 Westminster and the borough of Southwark, were charged 
 threepence should now be extended to include all places 
 within three miles of the General Post-office. Two years after- 
 wards, on the recommendation of another Commission, the 
 limits of the " Twopenny Post " were again extended to places 
 not exceeding twelve miles from St. Martin's-le-Grand, and this 
 arrangement continued till the time of uniform penny postage. 
 The Duke of Richmond likewise appointed a daily post to 
 France, established a number'of new mail-coaches, and abolished, 
 in great part, the system of paying the clerks, &c. of the Post- 
 office by fees, substituting fixed salaries in each case. 1 
 
 i The salary of the Secretary to the Post-office in the last century was 600/. 
 a year, and a commission of 2^ per cent, on the produce of the mail-packets. 
 (Vide Pitts Speeches, vol. i. pp. 53-55, Debate of June 17, 1783.) In 
 1830 the Secretary's salary was 500/. a year, but what with compensations, 
 lees, and other emoluments, his annual income is stated to have amounted to 
 no less than 4,560/. (Mirror of Parliament, 1835.) The. clerks, according 
 to a Parliamentary return, were paid small salaries, regulated on different 
 scales, but their income consisted principally of emoluments derived from 
 other sources. The established allowances, charged on the public revenue, 
 consisted of sums for postage, stationery, payment in lieu of apartments, and 
 lor continuing indexes to official books. The remaining emoluments, of 
 course not chargeable against the revenue, arose from fees on deputations, 
 commissions, expresses, profits on the publication of the Shipping and Packet 
 
Sir Rowland Hill anticipated. 159 
 
 In 1830, on the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Bailway, the mails of the district were consigned to the new 
 company for transmission. The railway system developed but 
 slowly, exerting little influence on Post-office arrangements for 
 the first few years. After public attention had been attracted 
 to railways, many proposals were thrown out for the more quick 
 transmission of mails, to the supercession of the mail-coach. 
 One writer suggested the employment of balloons. Professor 
 Babbage threw out suggestions, in his Economy of Machinery 
 and Manufactures, 1832, pp. 218 221, deserving more atten- 
 tion, because in them we see shadowed forth two at least of the 
 greatest enterprises of our time. After proceeding to show, in a 
 manner which must have been interesting to the post-reformers 
 of 1839-40, that if the cost of letter-carrying could be reduced, 
 the result might be (if the Post-office people chose) a cheaper 
 rate of postage and a corresponding increase in the number of 
 letters, he proceeded to expound a scheme which, though vague, 
 was described in words extremely interesting, seeing that he wrote 
 long anterior to the time of the electric telegraph. Imagine, 
 says he, a series of high pillars erected at frequent intervals, 
 as nearly as possible in a straight line between two post-towns. 
 An iron or steel wire of some thickness must be stretched over 
 proper supports, fixed on these pillars, and terminating at the 
 end, say of four or five miles, in a very strong support, by which 
 the whole may be stretched. He proposed to call each of these 
 places station-houses, where a man should be in attendance. A 
 narrow cylindrical tin case, to contain bags or letters, might be 
 suspended on two wheels rolling upon the wire, whilst an endless 
 wire of smaller size might be made to pass over two drums, one 
 at each end, by which means the cylinder could be moved by the 
 person at the station. Much more of the details follow, and 
 Mr. Babbage thus concludes : " The difficulties are obvious ; 
 but if these were overcome, it would present many advantages 
 besides velocity." We might have two or three deliveries of 
 letters 1 every day; we might send expresses at any moment; 
 
 Lists, payments for franking letters on the business of the Land-Tax Redemp- 
 tion, and for the Tax-office, &c. and from Lloyd's Coffee-House for shipping 
 intelligence, &c. There were, besides, other gratuities for special services. 
 
 1 We give the following simply to show the vagaries of clever, scientific 
 men. Speaking of London, the then Professor said: "Perhaps if the steeples 
 
160 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 " and it is not impossible that a stretched wire might 
 itself be made available for a species of telegraphic communica- 
 tion yet more rapid." After the first few years of railways, 
 however, all other speculators quietly withdrew into the shade. 
 In the Post-office, towards 1838, the influence of railways 
 promised soon to be paramount ; so much so, that it was already 
 considered indispensable that Parliament should discuss that 
 influence. Hence it was that in 1838, Acts were passed "to 
 provide for the conveyance of mails by railways." The Post- 
 office underwent many minor transitions from 1810 to 1840, 
 but the change in the system of mail conveyance was, whether 
 viewed in itself, or in relation to its subsequent effects on the 
 postal system, by far the most important. On June 14, 1838, 
 Mr. Labouchere brought in a bill to convey mails by railway, 
 founded on the result of the Committee of Inquiry which was 
 appointed at the beginning of that session. " The Post-office," 
 said the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, " was obliged to 
 have recourse to railways, or suspend operations ; the iron roads 
 had already put a stop to most of the stage-coach traffic on the 
 principal roads." 1 One clause of the Bill provided for the 
 employment of arbitrators to endeavour to secure the services of 
 railways on equitable terms. At first, but one arbitrator was 
 employed to negotiate between the Post-office and the companies ; 
 subsequently, however, one was nominated from each of the two 
 great interests. Sir James Graham took exception to this pro- 
 vision, moving a declaratory clause, however, that the arbitrators 
 should take into consideration the cost of the construction of 
 the particular lines, in awarding the sums for different services. 
 Mr. Labouchere, speaking for the Government, wished the 
 arbitrators to be wholly free and with a perfect right to enter 
 into such inquiries as they might deem necessary to enable 
 them to make their award. He thought it would require 
 very special circumstances to justify the original cost of con- 
 struction being taken into consideration. The wish of the 
 
 of churches, properly selected, were made use of as, for instance, St. Paul's 
 and if a similar apparatus were placed at the top of each steeple, and a man 
 to work it during the day, it might be possible to diminish the expense of the 
 twopenny post, and make deliveries every half-hour over the greater part of 
 the metropolis." P. 221. 
 
 l Hansard, vol. xliii. June, 1838. 
 
Railway Legislation. 161 
 
 Government was, that the whole question should be left to the 
 decision of fair and honourable men. 1 Sir James Graham was 
 satisfied, and would further state that if, from a system of unfair 
 dealing on the part of the railway companies, they sought to 
 obtain any undue advantages, no member of the House would 
 be more ready to join with the Government in adopting the 
 strongest measures to compel them to be just. It is a matter of 
 some importance to remember that no proper provision for the 
 mails was made on the first railway Bills' being passed, and that 
 this course was soon afterwards regretted by all sides of the 
 House. Mr. Wallace, of Kelly, whose name will frequently 
 come up in subsequent pages in connexion with postal reforms, 
 was loud in his regrets. The Vice-President of the Board of 
 Trade agreed that the House had " originally legislated blindly 
 and rashly on the subject of railways." Sir Kobert Peel, leading 
 the Opposition, went quite as far, acknowledging " the enormous 
 error " into which he and the House generally " had fallen, when 
 the railroad Bills were under discussion. They ought to have 
 foreseen," said he, "when these Bills were before them, that 
 they were in fact establishing a monopoly, a monopoly in 
 respect to which there could be no future condition. They 
 ought to have foreseen that, if the railroads were successful, 
 other modes of internal communication would almost necessarily 
 fall into disuse, and they ought, therefore, to have stipulated 
 as it would have been perfectly just and easy for them to 
 have done that certain public services should be performed at 
 a reasonable rate." However, as this had not been done, Parlia- 
 ment could only fall back upon its inherent right to say on what 
 terms such services should be provided from time to time ; for 
 which purposes, he thought, they could not do better than 
 employ arbitration, as this was the course pursued when the 
 companies disputed with the owners of property the value of 
 land compulsorily taken for railway works. 
 
 About the same time, Mr. Labouchere moved that the laws 
 
 regulating the Post-office be consolidated, and that the criminal 
 
 laws in force in England and Ireland be assimilated. In Ireland, 
 
 robbing the mail-coach was punishable with death ; in England 
 
 with transportation. It was requisite that in this and all other 
 
 i Hansard, vol. xliv. p. 481. July 21, 1838. 
 
 M 
 
1 6 2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 matters of the kind, the law should be the same throughout the 
 British Isles. Mr. Wallace seconded the motion, for he was 
 convinced that it was one of the most beneficial measures that 
 had been brought before the House for a long time. 1 
 
 In 1836, Sir Francis Freeling, the Secretary of the Post-office, 
 died, when his place was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Maberly. 
 The latter gentleman, who is described as having been an entire 
 stranger to the office, was introduced into the department by the 
 Treasury, for the purpose, as it was stated, of zealously carrying 
 out the reforms which the eighth Commission of Post-office 
 Inquiry had recommended. 2 On the premature fall of Sir 
 Kobert Peel's first Cabinet, early in the previous year, the Earl 
 of Lichfield had succeeded to the office of Postmaster-General, 
 under Lord Melbourne. The two new officers set to work in 
 earnest, and succeeded in inaugurating many important reforms. 
 They got the Money-order Office transferred, as we have already 
 seen, from private hands to the General Establishment ; they 
 began the system of registering valuable letters ; and, taking 
 advantage of one of Mr. Hill's suggestions, they started a number 
 of day-mails to the provinces. Towards the close of 1836, the 
 stamp duty on newspapers was reduced from about threepence- 
 farthing net to one penny, a reduction which led to an enormous 
 increase in the number of newspapers passing through the Post- 
 office. 
 
 Though all these improvements were being carried out, and 
 in many respects the Post-office was showing signs of progres- 
 sion, the authorities still clung with a most unreasonable tenacity 
 to the accustomed rates of postage, and of necessity to all the 
 evils which followed in the train of an erroneous fiscal principle. 
 Contrary to all experience in any other department, the Govern- 
 ment obstinately refused to listen for a moment to any plan for 
 the reduction of postage rates, or, what is still more remarkable, 
 even to the alleviation of burdens caused directly by the official 
 arrangements of the period. For example, Colonel Maberly 
 had no sooner learnt the business of his office, than he saw very 
 clearly an anomaly which pressed heavily in some cases, and was 
 
 1 Hansard, vol. xxxix. March, 1837. 
 
 2 Evidence of Colonel Maberly before the Select Committee on Postage. 
 843, p. 170. 
 
The Old Rates of Postage. 1 63 
 
 felt in all. He at once made a proposition to the Treasury that 
 letters should be charged in all cases according to the exact 
 distance between the places where a letter was posted and where 
 delivered, and not according to the distance through which the 
 Post-office, for purposes of its own, might choose to send such 
 letters. It may serve to show the extent to which this strange 
 and anomalous practice was carried, if we state that the estimated 
 reduction in the postal revenue, had Colonel Maberly's sugges- 
 tion been acted upon, was given at no less than 80,OOOL annually ! 
 The Lords of the Treasury promptly refused the concession. 
 
 In 1837, the average general postage was estimated at 9^d. 
 per letter ; exclusive of foreign letters, it was still as high as 
 8f d. In the reign of Queen Anne the postage of a letter between 
 London and Edinburgh was less than half as much as the amount 
 charged at the accession of Queen Victoria, with macadamized 
 roads, and even with steam. Notwithstanding the heavy rates, 
 or, let us say, on account of these rates, the net proceeds of the 
 gigantic monopoly of the Post-office remained stationary for 
 nearly twenty years. In 1815 the revenue derivable from the 
 Post-office was estimated at one and a half millions sterling. 
 In 1836, the increase on this amount had only been between 
 three and four thousand pounds, though the population of the 
 country had increased immensely, knowledge was more diffused, 
 and trade and commerce had extended in every direction. Had 
 the Post-office revenue increased, for instance, in the same ratio 
 as population, we should have found the proceeds to have been 
 increased by half a million sterling ; or at the ratio of increase of 
 stage-coach travelling, it must have been two millions sterling. 
 
 The high rates, while they failed to increase the Post-office 
 revenue, undoubtedly led to the evasion of the postage altogether. 
 Illicit modes of conveyance were got up and patronised by some 
 of the principal merchants in the kingdom. Penal laws were 
 set at defiance, and the number of contraband letters became 
 enormous. Some carriers were doing as large a business as the 
 Post-office itself. On one occasion the agents of the Post-office 
 made a seizure, about this time, of eleven hundred such letters, 
 which were found in a single bag in the warehouse of certain 
 eminent London carjiers. The head of the firm hastened to 
 seek an interview with the Postmaster-General, and proffered 
 M 2 
 
164 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 instant payment of 5001. by way of composition for the penalties 
 incurred, and if proceedings against the firm might not be 
 instituted. The money was taken, and the letters were all passed 
 through the Post-office the same night. 1 For one case which 
 was detected, however, a hundred were never made known. 
 The evasion of the Post-office charges extended so far and so 
 wide that the officials began to declare that any attempt to stop 
 the smuggling, or even to check it, was as good as hopeless. 
 Prosecutions for the illicit conveyance of letters had, in fact, 
 ceased long before the misdemeanours themselves. 
 
 The Post-office was now ripe for a sweeping change. Mr. 
 Wallace, the member for Greenock, had frequently called the 
 attention of the House of Commons to the desirability of a 
 thorough reform in the Post-office system. We find him moving 
 at different times for Post-office returns. For instance, in 
 August, 1833, Mr. Wallace 2 brought forward a subject which, 
 he said, " involved a charge of the most serious nature against 
 the Post-office viz. that the Postmaster-General, or some person 
 acting under his direction, with the view of discovering a fraud 
 upon its revenue, has been guilty of a felony in the opening of 
 letters." He moved on this occasion for a return of all and 
 every instruction, bye-law, or authority, under which post- 
 masters are instructed and authorized, or have assumed a right, 
 to open, unfold, apply strong lamp-light to, or use any of them 
 or any other means whatever, for ascertaining or reading what 
 may be contained in words or in figures in any letter, of any 
 size or description, being fastened with a wafer or wax, or even 
 if totally unfastened by either. 3 " At the same time he moved 
 for a return of all Post-office prosecutions, especially for the 
 
 1 Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill. 1862. 
 
 2 Mirror of Parliament. ,Barrow. 1833. 
 
 3 Now and then the House was enlivened and amused by even Post-office 
 discussions. Thus, in the discussion on the above motion, Mr. Cobbett com- 
 plained that a letter of his, which " was not only meant to be read, but to be 
 printed," had never been received by him, nor could he get any satisfaction 
 out of the Post-office authorities. He advised all honourable members who 
 had complaiuts to make against the Post-office, to make them at once to the 
 House, without having any interview with ministers. For his own part, with 
 regard to letters being opened, he felt sure that the Post-office read all the 
 letters it cared to read ; so he took care to write accordingly. He didn't care 
 about his letters being read, provided they were allowed to go on as he 
 addressed them. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Stanley (the present Lord Derby) thought it would be a 
 
Mr. Wallace of Kelly. 165 
 
 expenses of a recent case at Stafford. In reply, the Post-office 
 answered in a parliamentary paper that no such instruction had 
 ever been issued from the General Post-office. Every person in 
 the Post-office was required to take the oath prescribed in the 
 Act of 9 Anne, c. 10. It was added, that " whenever it is 
 noticed that a letter has been put into the post unfastened, it is 
 invariably sealed with the official seal for security." In reply to 
 the other return, the Post-office authorities admitted that the 
 cost of prosecuting a woman and girl at the late Stafford assizes 
 exceeded three hundred and twenty pounds. 
 
 There can be no question that Mr. Wallace's frequent motions 
 for Post-office papers, returns, statistics, detailed accounts of 
 receipt and expenditure, &c. were the means of drawing special 
 attention to the Post-office, and that they were of incalculable 
 service to the progress of reform and the coming reformer. Mr. 
 Wallace has, indeed, in one quarter at any rate, been credited 
 with the suggestion of the uniform penny rate of postage, but 
 this is simply a mistake and an absurdity ; it is, moreover, 
 an honour which he never claimed for himself. In estimating 
 properly the penny post system, and the labours of those who 
 succeeded, under the greatest opposition and fiercest antagonism, 
 in carrying that measure, the share which Mr. Wallace of Kelly 
 had in it should never be lost sight of : still he never contem- 
 plated more than a great reduction of postage rates for instance, 
 a minimum charge of threepence, and a maximum rate of nine- 
 pence until another reformer arose, to whom he freely offered 
 all his energies. Mr. Wallace's generalizations, as well as his 
 want of any properly defined and detailed scheme, were often 
 caustically referred to at the time. That he lacked the requisite 
 powers of organization there can be little doubt. Though honest 
 and straightforward, he was hasty, very blunt and outspoken, 
 and never attempted to conciliate his opponents. His tongue 
 
 subject of deep regret that any negligence on the part of the Post-office had 
 prevented the elaborate lucubrations of the hon. member for Oldham from 
 appearing in the Register on the appointed Saturday. 
 
 Mr. Colbctt. It never appeared at all. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Stanley was grieved. He felt sure, however, that the hon. 
 member spent too much time over the midnight oil not to have kept a copy 
 of his precious essay. He protested against lion, members taking up the time 
 of the House with complaints against a department which managed its work 
 very well. 
 
1 66 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 led him into several troubles, out of which he can scarcely be 
 said to have come scathless. In 1835, for example, he stated in 
 the House that the Postmaster-General, as well as the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, were completely under the thumb of Sir 
 Francis Freeling ; that they " were, in fact, the apprentices of 
 the Post-office Secretary." Mr. Wallace was handled unmerci- 
 fully in the House of Lords by all the peers who had held the 
 office. Lord William Lennox, in the Lower House, would ask if 
 anything could justify Mr. Wallace in calling Sir Francis, whom 
 he and others eulogized, 1 " Postmaster-General ? " "I never take 
 up my papers in the morning," added this honourable lord, 
 " that I do not find the name of the hon. member for Greenock 
 there with some motion for inquiry with respect to the Post- 
 office. I wish to God that the hon. member would bring 
 forward that inquiry at once in some tangible shape, instead 
 of indulging in vague generalities and mere declamation." 
 \Though Lord Lennox spoke in the fraternal interest the Duke 
 of Eichmond being at the head of the Post-office yet he 
 evidently gave expression to the prevailing feeling at the time. 
 In 1837, Mr. Wallace was again in hot water. Lord Lichfield 
 in the House of Lords strongly animadverted on some statements 
 made by " the individual who had particularly applied himself 
 to the subject," and characterized them, not without some show 
 of reason, as "scandalous and infamous libels." Mr. Wallace 
 
 1 Sir Francis Freeling, an old and experienced officer, was held in great 
 respect by all who knew him. A Tory of the oldest aud most rigid school, he 
 was well known as an able man and a generous patron of art aud literature. 
 Who that has seen it but remembers the dedication of Hood's first Comic 
 Annual to Sir Francis, written in Hood's own incomparable style P We cannot 
 refrain from giving it entire : 
 
 To SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART. 
 
 the Great Patron of Letters, Foreign, General, and Two-penny; distinguished 
 alike for his fostering care of the 
 
 BELL LETTERS; 
 
 and his antiquarian care for the 
 
 DEAD LETTERS ; 
 
 whose increasing efforts to forward the spread of intelligence as Correspond- 
 ing Member of All Societies (and no man fills his Post better) have 
 
 SINGLY, DOUBLY, AND TREBLY 
 
 endeared him to every class; this first volume of The Comic Annual is with 
 Frank permission, gratefully inscribed by 
 
 THOMAS HOOD. 
 
Mr. Wallace of Kelly. 1 6 7 
 
 had complained of a letter and petition not having reached him 
 from Edinburgh, and he publicly hinted that they had been pur- 
 posely kept back. Afterwards he found them, and honestly 
 wrote to the Post-office saying that the letter had been received : 
 " This individual," continued the Earl, " had, in consequence of 
 his mind being occupied by a multiplicity of business, carelessly 
 thrown it aside." He complained of the seals of his letters 
 having been broken, and Lord Lichfield showed how " they 
 were sealed in the most peculiar manner ; the mere dropping 
 of them in the letter-box was proved to be sufficient to fracture 
 the seals." It is not difficult, therefore, to understand the position 
 which Mr. Wallace filled in relation to the subject, nor is it 
 likely that he would ever have been able to do more than he 
 did. Whatever may have been said to the contrary, his motives 
 were pure and honest, 1 and his diligence and attention to Post- 
 office matters were enormous. As avant courier to a wiser and 
 milder man, Mr. Wallace did great and important, if somewhat 
 thankless services, but he had neither the ingenuity to devise, 
 nor the patient, cautious, watchful zeal necessary to the advocacy 
 and the completion of the comprehensive scheme that was 
 required. 
 
 1 The Quarterly Review (October, 1839), speaking about his motions for 
 different papers, goes on to say : " What grounds he had for making them 
 could only be imagined. They were, in fact, the kind of random motions with 
 which a member fishes for abuses, but is still more anxious to catch notoriety." 
 The italics are not ours. 
 
1 68 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 SIR ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE. 
 
 Miss MARTINEAU, in her history of the Thirty Years' Peace, 
 narrates a somewhat romantic incident to account for Mr. Hill's 
 original relation to our subject, tracing the fiscal reform with 
 which his name is indissolubly connected to the " neighbourly 
 shilling " well laid out of a " pedestrian traveller in the Lake 
 District." Unluckily for the historian, the incident never hap- 
 pened to Mr. Hill. The repeated motions of Mr. Wallace in the 
 House of Commons are proved beyond dispute to have brought 
 home the subject to the consideration of many thoughtful minds, 
 and amongst those, to one who had scholarly leisure and philo- 
 sophical ingenuity to bring to its service. 
 
 Born in 1795, and for many years a tutor in his father's 
 school near Birmingham, Mr. Rowland Hill was, at this time, 
 the secretary of the Commissioners for conducting the Coloniza- 
 tion of South Australia, upon the plan of Mr. Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield. At this post, according to the testimony of the 
 commissioners themselves, Mr. Hill laboured unweariedly, 
 " evincing," as they said, " considerable powers of organization." 
 Mr. Hill, in one place, 1 gives a clear account of the way he 
 prepared himself for the work he took in hand, when once his 
 attention was arrested by the subject. " The first thing I did 
 was to read very carefully all the reports on Post-office subjects. 
 I then put myself in communication with the hon. member for 
 Greenock, who kindly afforded me much assistance, and then 
 applied to the Post-office for information, with which Lord 
 Lichfield was so good as to supply me. These were the means I 
 took to make myself acquainted with the subject." In January, 
 1837, Mr. Hill published the results of his investigations, 
 embodying his scheme in a pamphlet entitled Post-office Reform : 
 i Select Committee of Pos(age > 1843, p. ] 33. 
 
Mr. Hill's Pamphlet. 1 69 
 
 its Importance and Practicability. This, the first edition, was 
 circulated privately among the principal members of the Legis- 
 lature and official men ; the second edition, published two 
 months afterwards, being the first given to the world. The 
 pamphlet, of which we must here attempt to give some account, 
 created an immediate sensation ; most people were struck with 
 the novelty of its views ; the more thoughtful saw at once 
 the evident care and attention that had been bestowed on the 
 subject, and the general soundness of the conclusions arrived at. 
 In the mercantile world especially, Mr. Hill's proposals were 
 at once understood, eagerly adopted, and spread rapidly. Mr. 
 Hill may be said to have started with the fact to which we 
 have already adverted in the previous chapter, namely, that the 
 Post-office was not progressing as it ought, and like other great 
 interests ; that its revenue from 1815 to 1835 had remained 
 quite stationary, though there was at the latter period an addi- 
 tional population of six millions, and though the increase in trade 
 and commerce had been proportionate with the increase of 
 population. Again, the increase in the ratio of stage-coach 
 travellers made the case still more clear. Had the duties on 
 postage increased in the same proportion as the duty on stage- 
 coach travelling, the sum of two millions sterling would have 
 been added to the postal revenue each year. Though a smart 
 Quarterly Reviewer answered this argument by saying that the 
 more men travelled, the less need was there for writing, it is easy 
 to demonstrate the falsity of the position from present experi- 
 ence, and to show, that had the old principles of postage been 
 true, the Post-office revenue should have advanced as rapidly as 
 the analogous duty on stage-coaches. Mr. Hill then went on to 
 show that the principle of high rates of postage was an erroneous 
 one ; that it affected in a most material way other branches of 
 revenue ; he maintained the counter principle (which has made 
 rapid progress since his time), that reducing the taxes on certain 
 goods does not necessarily occasion a reduction in the public 
 revenue, but that the reduction would often lead to increased 
 consumption of the articles in question. As an illustration, he 
 gave the case of the malt-tax, which reduced 28 per cent, had 
 only resulted in a diminution of revenue to the extent of 24 per 
 cent. He adduced other cases of remission of taxation, and also 
 
1 7 o Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 one or two cases where postage rates had been reduced with the 
 same results. 
 
 From the data which Mr. Hill was enabled to gather for 
 accounts of any sort were not kept so accurately at the Post-office 
 then as now, and there were no accounts of the number of inland 
 letters he estimated the number of letters passing through the 
 Post-office ; and we may remark, that considering the meagre- 
 ness of the statistical information at his disposal, his estimates 
 were made up with wonderful accuracy and ingenuity, and 
 required little subsequent alteration. Having got the number 
 of letters and the total amount of revenue received from them, 
 he made a rough calculation, which, though rough, came very 
 near the mark, that the average charge per letter was 6%d. 
 He then tried to ascertain the expenses of management. This 
 cost he divided into two heads, the primary and secondary dis- 
 tribution, and showed that the cost of receiving and delivering 
 the letters, and also the cost of transit, took two-thirds of the 
 total cost of the management of the Post-office. Of this sum, 
 the amount which had to do with the distance letters were con- 
 veyed, Mr. Hill calculated at 144,000?. out of the total postal 
 expenditure of 700,000?. Applying to this smaller sum the 
 estimated number of letters deducting franks and taking into 
 account the greater weight of newspapers he gave the apparent 
 average cost of conveying each letter as less than one-tenth of a 
 penny. The conclusion to which he came from this calculation 
 of the average cost of transit was inevitable, and that was, that 
 if the charge must be made proportionate (except, forsooth, it 
 could be shown how the postage of one tenth or one thirty-sixth 
 of a penny could be collected) it must clearly be uniform, and 
 for the sake of argument, and not considering the charge as a 
 tax, or as a, tax whose end was drawing near, any packet of an 
 equal weight might be sent thoughout the length and breadth of 
 the country at precisely the same rate. 
 
 The justice and propriety of a uniform rate was further 
 shown, but in a smaller degree, by the fact that the relative cost 
 of transmission of letters under the old system was not always 
 dependent on the distance the mails were carried. Thus, the 
 Edinburgh mail, the longest and most important of all, cost 51. 
 for each journey. Calculating the proportionate weight of bags, 
 
Mr. Hilfs Principal Arguments. 171 
 
 letters, and newspapers, Mr. Hill 1 arrived at the absolute cost of 
 carrying a newspaper of an average weight of 1^ oz. at one sixth 
 of a penny, and that of a letter of an average weight of J oz. at 
 one thirty-sixth of a penny. These sums being the full cost for 
 the whole distance, Mr. Hill assumed, fairly enough, that the 
 same rating would do for any place on the road. It was admitted 
 on all hands, that the chief labour was expended in making up, 
 opening, and delivering the mails ; therefore the fact whether it 
 was carried one mile or a hundred made comparatively little 
 difference in the expenditure of the office. The expenses and 
 trouble being much the same, perhaps even less at Edinburgh 
 than at some intermediate point, why should the charges be so 
 different ? But the case could be made still stronger. The mail 
 for Louth, containing as it did comparatively few letters, cost the 
 Post-office authorities, as the simple expense of transit, one 
 penny-farthing per letter. Thus, an Edinburgh letter, costing 
 the Post-office an infinitesimal fraction of a farthing, was charged 
 one shilling and three-halfpence to the public, while a letter for 
 Louth, costing the Post-office fifty times as much, was charged 
 to the public at the rate of tenpence ! Nothing was clearer, 
 therefore, that if Mr. Hill's propositions were opposed, and his 
 opponents did not advocate the payment according to the actual 
 cost of transit, those who were adverse to them must fall into 
 the absurdity of recognising as just an arrangement which 
 charged the highest price for the cheapest business ! At first 
 sight it looked extravagant, that persons residing at Penzance 
 or near the Giant's Causeway, at Watford or Wick, should pay 
 equal postage for their letters. The intrinsic value of the con- 
 veyance of a letter, it must be admitted, is a very different 
 thing from its cost, the value being exactly equal to the time, 
 trouble, and expense saved to the correspondents, of which, per- 
 haps, the only measure appeared to be the actual distance. 
 Looked at more narrowly, however, in the clear light of Mr. 
 Hill's investigations, it became obvious that it was really " a 
 nearer approximation to perfect justice " 2 to allow distant places 
 to feel the benefits of the measure, passing over the little 
 
 1 Post-office Reform, p. 14, third edition. 
 
 2 Our Exemplars, Poor and Rich, edited by Matthew Davenport Hill. 
 London, 185], p. 317. 
 
172 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 inequalities to which it might give rise, while all might pay 
 such a sum as would cover the expenses in each and every 
 case. 1 
 
 Having laid his foundation on this broad basis, he went on to 
 show that the high rates of postage were so excessive (not onlv 
 varied according to distance, but doubled and tripled if there 
 were enclosures, and charged with fourfold postage if the letter 
 exceeded an ounce in weight), as greatly to diminish, where 
 they did not absolutely prevent, correspondence. Not only so, 
 but the high rate created an illicit traffic, involving all classes 
 of the country in the meshes of a systematically clandestine 
 trade. Nor was this all. The expenses of the department might 
 be much reduced by simplifications in the various processes. 
 The existing system resulted in a complicated system of accounts, 
 involving great waste of time, as well as offering inducements to 
 fraud. The daily work of exposing letters to a strong light, in 
 order to see the number of its enclosures, also offered a constant 
 temptation to the violation of the first duty of the officers of the 
 
 1 The Westminster Review, July, 1860, p. 78, in an able but exceedingly ex 
 parte article on " The Post-office Monopoly," doubts whether Mr. Hill's system 
 is a near approximation to perfect justice, being, in its opinion, " by no means 
 the snmmnm bonum of letter- rates." " A charge of one penny for the carriage 
 of all letters of a certain weight within the United Kingdom, irrespective of 
 distance, is eminently arbitrary." ..." No one in London who has written^ 
 two letters, one to a friend residing in the same town as himself, and another 
 to one in Edinburgh, can have failed, in affixing the stamps to them, to observe 
 the unfairness of charging the same sum for carrying the one 400 yards and 
 the other 400 miles, when the cost of transmission" must in the one case be so 
 much more than in the other." These quotations plainly show that Sir .Rowland 
 Hill's early arguments have been lost upon the reviewer. If that gentleman 
 demonstrated one thing more plainly than another, it was that the absolute 
 cost of the transmission of each letter was so infinitesimally small, that if 
 charged according to that cost, the postage could not be collected. Besides, 
 it is not certain that the one letter would cost the Post-office more than the 
 other. Moreover, to the sender the value of the conveyance of the local letter 
 was equal to its cost, or he would have forwarded it by other means. No 
 doubt a strong argument might be based on some such grounds as these, as to 
 the justice of a lower rate for letters posted and delivered in the same town. 
 Such a measure might be supported on Sir Rowland Hill's own principles; 
 but the apparent anomaly is surely no argument against a State monopoly of 
 letter-carrying. It is only fair to add though at the same time it is also 
 curious that in a paper in the present number of the Westminster (January, 
 1865) on " Railways," Sir Rowland Hill meets with cordial praise and recog- 
 nition as a true reformer; t'ie principle of penny postage is de facto cora- 
 ni"nded; and the success of the measure is adduced as an argument for the 
 formation of a gigantic system of monopoly in railways 1 
 
Charged by Weight. 173 
 
 State in respect to the sanctity of correspondence. If, instead 
 of charging letters according to the number of sheets or scraps 
 of paper, a weight were fixed, below which, whatever the contents 
 of the letters, a certain rate were charged, much trouble would 
 be saved to the office, not to speak of the principle being more 
 just. Then, again, a great loss of time was experienced in the 
 mode of collecting the postage from door to door as the letters 
 were delivered, each letter-carrier being detained on the average 
 two minutes at every house ; and not only so, but check-clerks 
 and check-accounts had to be kept at the Post-office of the 
 amounts thus sent out. Mr. Hill went on to show how a great 
 economization of labour might be effected by some system of 
 prepayment by means of stamps or stamped covers, which could 
 be easily managed provided the postage rates were made 
 uniform ; while, if the public would construct letter-boxes in 
 their doors, the existing staff might easily distribute four or five 
 times the number of letters they were then able to deliver. 
 
 Mr. Hill, in his able pamphlet, exhausted the subject. All 
 the facts to which we have just adverted, and their results on the 
 public revenue, shine out here as clear as noonday. By a variety 
 of striking arguments, he urged upon the nation a trial of his 
 plans begged for an unobstructed and cheap circulation of 
 letters, expressing his most deliberate conviction that the Post- 
 office, a rendered feeble and inefficient by erroneous financial 
 arrangements," was " capable of performing a distinguished part 
 in the great work of national education," that it might and 
 would become " a new and powerful engine of civilization," and 
 thus be made a benefaction and blessing to mankind. He left 
 the following proposals to the deliberate judgment of the 
 nation : 1 . A large diminution in the rates of postage, say even 
 to one penny per letter weighing not more than half an ounce. 
 2. Increased speed in the delivery of letters. 3. More frequent 
 opportunities for the despatch of letters. And 4. Simplification 
 in the operations of the Post-office, with the object of economy 
 in the management. The grand, yet simple foundation of the 
 new scheme, was, of course, the proposal that the rate of 
 postage should be low and uniform, and charged according to 
 weight. 
 
 No wonder that the scheme, of which, in our own order, we have 
 
174 Her Majesty's Mails, 
 
 just attempted an outline, roused feelings of delight and appro- 
 bation from the people at large throughout the length and 
 breadth of the land. Still less is it a matter of surprise that 
 the Government and the Post-office authorities, in charge of the 
 revenue, should stand aghast at the prospect of being called 
 upon to sanction what they considered so suicidal a policy. We 
 are not left in doubt as to what the authorities thought of the 
 scheme when it was first proposed. Three months after the 
 publication of the pamphlet, Lord Lichfield, the Postmaster- 
 General, speaking as to its practicability, described the proposal 
 in the House of Lords, 1 " of all the wild and visionary schemes 
 which I have ever heard of, it is the most extravagant." Six 
 months afterwards he is still willing to endorse all he said in 
 June : " Since I made those observations I have given the 
 subject considerable attention, and I remain even still more 
 firmly of the same opinion." 2 Colonel Maberly spoke even 
 more decidedly : he thought it " a most preposterous plan, 
 utterly unsupported by facts, resting entirely on assumptions." 
 The revenue was first thought of. Lord Lichfield told the House 
 of Lords that no man regretted more than himself that the plan 
 could not be followed ; it would so materially affect the revenue. 
 The Duke of Richmond, always entitled to respect when he 
 spoke of Post-office matters, thought " a reduction of postage 
 was greatly needed," but he could not see his way clear, " on 
 the score of public revenue, to urge the adoption of the plan 
 as it stood." 3 Lord Brougham, with that clear-sighted vision and 
 quick comprehension for which he has always been so remark- 
 able, took the opportunity to say that nothing he had heard 
 from either noble duke or noble earl had in the least degree 
 shaken his opinion as to the utility and feasibility of Mr. Hill's 
 plan. Nor did the Ex-Lord Chancellor ever waver for a 
 moment or relax in his exertions to second the labours of the 
 reformer. The Post-office authorities at first argued that the 
 letters would not increase at all in the proportion stated, and 
 that therefore the primary element to a successful issue was 
 more than doubtful. Mr. Godby, of the Irish Post-office, said 
 
 1 Hansard, vol. xxxvii. June, 1837. 
 
 2 Ihid. vol. xxxix. Nov. 1837. 
 
 3 Ibid.??. 376373. 
 
Conflicting Opinions. 175 
 
 he did not think " any human being living would ever see such 
 an increase of letters as would make up the loss " by the pro- 
 posed reductions. Even, however, supposing the letters do 
 increase as Mr. Hill estimates, they argued, what will be the 
 certain result if that increase should be realized ? *' The mails," 
 said Lord Lichfield on a subsequent occasion in the House, 
 " will have to carry twelve times as much in weight, and there- 
 fore the charge for transmission, instead of 100,OOOL as now, 
 must be twelve times that amount. The walls of the Post-office 
 would burst ; the whole area in which the building stands would 
 not be large enough to receive the clerks and letters." Nor 
 were the Post-office authorities the only opposers of the scheme ; 
 at first few members of the Legislature took the matter up 
 warmly. Many well-known names were ranked in decided 
 opposition, some contending that the plans, among otljer draw- 
 backs, would not only absorb the existing revenue, but would 
 have to be supported by a ruinous subsidy from the Exchequer. 
 But a valiant and courageous few in such a just and reasonable 
 reform were a host in themselves. Some of the most intelligent 
 statesmen of the day, including men like Lord Brougham and 
 the late Lord Ashburton, were inclined to go even so far as to 
 advocate the sacrifice of revenue altogether believing, as the 
 latter expressed it, that the postage of letters ought not to be 
 made the subject of a tax at all 1 rather than not have the 
 reform. An immense number of thoughtful people believed, 
 however (and Mr. Hill seems to have shared in this belief), that 
 any diminution which should result at first from the adoption of 
 the plans would only be temporary, and should be regarded as 
 an outlay, which, in the course of years, would yield enormous 
 profits. " Suppose even an average yearly loss of a million for 
 ten years," said an able writer in the Edinburgh Review, 2 " it is 
 but half what the country has paid for the abolition of slavery, 
 without the possibility of any money return. Treat the deficit 
 as an outlay of capital. Even if the hope of ultimate profit 
 should altogether fail, let us recur to some other tax . . . any tax 
 but this, certain that none can operate so fatally on all the other 
 
 1 " This is the worst of our taxes," said Lord Ashburton; "you might as 
 well tax words spoken on the Royal Exchange." 
 
 2 Ldinburgh Review, vol. Ixx. p. 545. 
 
1 7 6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 sources of revenue. Letters are the primordia rerum of the 
 commercial world. To tax them at all is condemned by those 
 who are best acquainted with the operations of finance." Nor 
 was Mr. Hill to be cried down. He had an opportunity of 
 speaking again on the publication of the third edition of his 
 pamphlet. He admitted, as we have before said, that his plans, 
 if carried out, would result in a diminution of revenue for a 
 few years to come. On the reliable data which he had collected, 
 he calculated that this decrease might extend, at first, to as 
 much as 300,000?. per annum ; but that the scheme would pay 
 in the long run, and pay handsomely, he had no manner of 
 doubt. Again, the letters would certainly increase ; if the 
 flood-gates of correspondence were thus opened, it was not 
 reasonable to suppose that the stream would not flow freely and 
 fully : yt still the increase would not be so enormous as to 
 swamp all the existing appliances, nor would it be less than 
 what would be requisite to show that this movement was one 
 ardently wished for by all classes of the population. 
 
 One of the first results of the publication of Mr. Hill's 
 pamphlet, was the formation of the " Mercantile Committee " 
 in London in 1837. This committee composed of a number 
 of the most influential merchants and bankers in London, 1 with 
 the late Mr. Bates, of the house of Baring & Co. for chairman 
 was called into existence through the manifested opposition to 
 a reform which was seen at once by them to be sound and 
 reasonable. Their work, to which many of them devoted a 
 great deal of time, was to spread a knowledge of the new plans 
 throughout the community. A thousand pounds were sub- 
 scribed at once for the purpose of distributing the necessary 
 information, and for the general purposes of the agitation. Like 
 all other large organizations for any kind of reform, the " Mer- 
 cantile Committee " had its organ in the Post Circular, which 
 was published for the sole purpose of conveying correct and 
 important information relative to the progress of the reform, 
 and awakening the general public to a proper sense of its 
 importance. 
 
 1 The following gentlemen were on the committee : Mr. G. Moffat, now 
 M.P. for Honiton; Mr. James Pattison, M.P.; Mr. Jones Loyd (now Lord 
 Overstone) ; Mr. D. Colvin, Mr. Lindsay Cole, Mr. W. Ellis, Mr. Gladstanes, 
 Mr. Larpent, Mr. Wilkinson, and Mr. Lestock Wilson. 
 
Public opinion on the Measure. 177 
 
 On the 9th of May, 1837, 1 Mr. Wallace proposed a Select 
 Committee to go into the question raised by Mr. Hill, and this 
 he did in an able speech. Lord John Russell opposed the 
 motion, hoping " the member for Greenock would withdraw it, 
 to allow the House to proceed with a Bill which was necessary 
 for the peace of Ireland." Mr. T. Duncombe advised the hon. 
 member to postpone his motion, but to persist in it at another 
 time. Mr. Wallace then withdrew it ; but the ball had com- 
 menced rolling, and there was now no stopping it. Whatever 
 might be said in Parliament, public opinion in the country was 
 most decided on the question, that even if the success of the 
 new scheme was insufficient to cover the charges of the establish- 
 ment, it ought by all means to be carried out. Scarcely ever 
 was public sympathy so soon and so universally excited in any 
 matter. The progress of the question of post reform, was in 
 this, and some other respects, very remarkable, and shows in a 
 strong light how long a kind of extortion may be borne quietly, 
 and then what may be accomplished by prompt and conjoint 
 action. Before Mr. Hill's pamphlet appeared, no complaints 
 reached the Legislature of the high rates of postage. During 
 the year in which it did appear, five petitions reached the Houses 
 of Lords and Commons, praying that its author's scheme might, 
 at least, be considered. In the next year 320, and in the first 
 half of the year 1839 no fewer than 830, petitions were pre- 
 sented in favour of the measure. During the agitation it is 
 calculated that over 2,000 petitions reached St. Stephen's, in- 
 cluding 400 from town councils and other public bodies. In 
 November, 1837, the Duke of Richmond presented a petition 
 from Scotland in favour of the scheme, and expressed the 
 opinion we have already given. On the same occasion, Lord 
 Brougham presented one from London merchants, and took the 
 opportunity to make one of his able speeches. A month after- 
 wards he presented another from the Lord Mayor and Corpora- 
 tion, and said that they had the capacity beyond most men of 
 examining the particulars and principles of such a plan. They 
 had given their opinion unanimously for Mr. Hill. Lord Radnor 
 presented a petition at the same time from the principal London 
 booksellers. Lord Ashburtoii presented one from bankers, 
 1 Hansard, vol. xl. May, 1857. 
 N 
 
178 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 solicitors, and men of science, signed by the leading spirits of 
 the metropolis. In reply to the able speeches which accom- 
 panied these petitions, the Ministers satisfied themselves by 
 speaking generally and favourably of the subject. They inti- 
 mated that the matter was under their consideration, and that 
 they intended to deal with it themselves. This they did, 
 according to Miss Martineau, "by proposing little schemes, 
 and alterations, and devices of their own, which only proved 
 that they were courageous in one direction, if not in another." * 
 So great and irresistible, however, became the pressure from 
 without that the Ministry left off temporizing, and indicated 
 that they would agree to an inquiry. On the 23d of November, 
 Mr. Spring Rice, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed a 
 Committee to inquire into the present rates or modes of charging 
 postage, with a view to such reduction thereof as may be made 
 without injury to the revenue; and for this purpose " to examine 
 especially into the mode recommended of charging and collecting 
 postage in a pamphlet by Mr. Rowland Hill." The Committee 
 consisted of Lords Lowther and Seymour, Sir Thomas Freemantle, 
 Hon. C. P. Villiers, Messrs. Poulett Thomson, Warburton; 
 Raikes Currie, M. J. O'Connell, T. Thorneley, Chalmers, J. 
 Pease, Mahony, Parker, and G. W. Wood. Mr. Wallace, of 
 Kelly, was appointed chairman on the first day, after which the 
 sittings were adjourned till after the Christmas holidays. It 
 was noticed that most of the members nominated by the Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer were favourable to the Government, all 
 but two Lord Lowther and Sir Thomas Freemantle having 
 voted for the Ballot. The Tories, however, did not grumble, as 
 on this subject the Government was conservative enough. The 
 Committee sat altogether sixty-three days, concluding their 
 deliberations in August, 1838. They examined all the principal 
 officers of the Post-office, and eighty-three independent witnesses 
 representing all the principal interests of the country. Thus, 
 Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Lardner, and others, testified to the injury 
 the heavy postage-rates inflicted on literature ; Mr. Charles 
 Knight, Mr. Whittaker, Mr. J. W. Parker spoke with more 
 especial reference to the bookselling and publishing trade ; 
 Dr. Gregory and Dr. Munk spoke of a cheaper rate of postage 
 1 History of the Thirty Tears' Peace, vol. ii. p. 429. 
 
The Committee 0/1838. . 179 
 
 being a desideratum with the medical profession, especially 
 instancing the case of vaccination ; and some of the members 
 of the Mercantile Committee, and others, like Mr. Cobden, 
 represented the different trading and commercial interests in- 
 volved. The Post-office authorities were particularly urged to 
 send their principal officers, in order that all their known 
 objections should be thoroughly and carefully canvassed. At 
 first many of the members of the Committee showed an evident 
 bias against the scheme, but much of this was removed as the 
 evidence slowly accumulated, and especially when it became 
 clearly apparent that Mr. Hill's facts and statistics .were borne 
 out by his evidence, and that this evidence could not be gain- 
 sayed by the Post-office. It were a long story to tell how the 
 feeling in favour of the measure grew day by day. Suffice it to 
 say that the final triumph was achieved by dint of great perse- 
 verance and activity on the part of Mr. Hill, the favourable 
 witnesses, and the favourable members of the Committee, and 
 by the out-balancing force and incontestable power of Mr. Hill's 
 figures. The examination itself was by no means ex parte, but 
 seems to have been carried on with great firmness as well as 
 great ability. Those members of the Committee who were par- 
 ticularly pledged to the protection of the revenue, as well as 
 Lords Lowther and Seymour who were intimate with Post- 
 office proceedings from having sat on the Commission appear 
 to have missed no opportunity of sifting the opinions and the 
 statements of each witness ; but in spite of all this, and the 
 adverse attitude of nearly all the Post-office officials, Mr. Hill 
 bore up in " that most unpleasant of all positions," as George 
 Stephenson naively expressed his own experience of a parlia- 
 mentary witness-box, with great tact and firmness, fully proving 
 the soundness and the strength of the conclusions of his pamphlet 
 upon which judgment had now to be passed. 
 
 A great subject of dispute between Mr. Hill and the Post- 
 office was the increase in the number of letters necessary to the 
 success of the scheme. In opposition to the views of official 
 men, 1 Mr. Hill held that a fivefold increase in the number of 
 
 1 Lord Lichfield thought it would require a twelvefold increase, " and I 
 maintain," said he, " that our calculations are more likely to be right than 
 his." Report, 282. 
 
 N2 
 
180 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 letters would suffice to preserve the existing gross revenue. As 
 regarded the means of conveyance, he showed that the stage- 
 coaches, &c. already in existence could carry twenty-seven times 
 the number of letters they had ever yet done ; and this state- 
 ment passed without dispute. The evidence was clear and 
 most convincing as to the vast amount of contraband letters 
 daily conveyed ; and no less certainly was it shown that if 
 Mr. Hill's schemes were carried out, the temptation to evasion 
 of postage would be at once abolished, inasmuch as there could 
 not then be sufficient inducement for the resorting to illegal 
 mediums. A Glasgow merchant stated that he knew five manu- 
 facturers in that city whose correspondence was transmitted 
 illegally in the following proportions, viz. (1) three to one ; 
 (2) eighteen to one ; (3) sixteen to one ; (4) eight to one ; and 
 (5) fifteen to one. Manchester merchants among whom was 
 Mr. Cobden stated that they had no doubt that four-fifths of 
 the letters written in that town did not pass through the Post- 
 office. No member of the Committee had any idea of the extent 
 to which the illicit conveyance of letters was carried. A carrier 
 in Scotland was examined, and confessed to having carried 
 sixty letters daily, on the average, for a number of years ; knew 
 other carriers who conveyed, on an average, five hundred daily. 
 He assured the Committee that the smuggling was alone done to 
 save the postage. " There might be cases when it was more 
 convenient, or done to save time, but the great object was 
 cheapness." The labouring classes, especially, had no other 
 reason. " They avail themselves of every possible opportunity 
 for getting their letters conveyed cheaply or free." In his 
 opinion, the practice could not be put a stop to until the Post- 
 office authorities followed the example that was set them in 
 putting down illicit distillation in Scotland. " I would reduce 
 the duty, and that would put an end to it, by bringing it down 
 to the expense of conveyance by carriers and others." Mr. John 
 Keid an extensive bookseller and publisher in Glasgow sent 
 and received, illicitly, about fifty letters or circulars daily. " I 
 was not caught," he said, "till I had sent twenty thousand 
 letters, &c. otherwise than through the post." He constantly 
 sent his letters by carriers ; he also sent and received letters for 
 himself and friends, inclosed in his booksellers' parcels. Any 
 
Letter Smuggling. 1 8 1 
 
 customer might have his letters so sent, by simply asking the 
 favour. It also came out in evidence, that twelve walking- 
 carriers were engaged exclusively in conveying letters between 
 Birmingham and Walsall and the district, a penny being charged 
 for each letter. The most curious modes of procedure, and the 
 oddest expedients 1 for escaping postage, were exhibited during 
 the sitting of the Committee. One, largely patronized by mer- 
 cantile houses, consisted in having a number of circulars printed 
 on one large sheet, when, on its arrival at a certain town, a 
 mutual friend or agent would cut it up, and either post or 
 deliver the parts. Nay, matters had been brought to such a 
 state, that a leading journal, commenting on the matter of illicit 
 letter-conveyance just previous to the sittings of the Committee, 
 went the length of saying that, "fortunately for trade and com- 
 merce, the operation of the Government monopoly is counter- 
 acted by the clandestine conveyance of letters." . . . "The 
 means of evasion are so obvious and frequent, and the power o. 
 prevention so ineffectual, that the post has become only the 
 extraordinary, instead of the usual, channel for the conveyance 
 
 1 Mr. Hill related some of these in his pamphlet. Thus, at page 91, we 
 read : " Some years ago, when it was the practice to write the name of a 
 Member of Parliament for the purpose of franking a newspaper, a friend of 
 mine, previous to starting on a tour into Scotland, arranged with his family 
 a plan of informing them of his progress and state of health, without putting 
 them to the expense of postage. It was managed thus: he carried with him 
 a number of old newspapers, one of which he put into the post daily. The 
 postmark, with the date, showed his progress; and the state of his health was 
 evinced by the selection of the name, from a list previously agreed upon, with 
 which the newspaper was franked. ' Sir Francis Burdett,' I recollect, denoted 
 vigorous health." Better known is the anecdote of a postal adventure of 
 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, already adverted to at the commencement of the 
 present chapter. The story is told originally, in Mr. Hill's pamphlet also: 
 Once, on the poet's visits to the Lake district, he halted at the door of a way- 
 side inn at the moment when the rural postman was delivering a letter to the 
 barmaid of the place. Upon receiving it she turned it over and over in her 
 hand, and then asked the postage of it. The postman demanded a shilling. 
 Sighing deeply, however, the girl handed the letter back, saying she was too 
 poor to pay the required sum. The poet at once offered to pay the postage, 
 and in spite of some resistance on the part of the girl, which he deemed quite 
 natural, did so. The messenger had scarcely left the place, when the young 
 barmaid confessed that she had learnt all she was likely to learn from the 
 letter ; that she had only been practising a preconceived trick : she and her 
 brother having agreed that a few hieroglyphics on the back of the letter 
 should tell her all she wanted to know, whilst the letter would contain no 
 writing. " We are so poor," she added, "that we have invented this manner 
 of corresponding and franking our letters." 
 
1 82 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 of letters." Notwithstanding this testimony, the evidence 
 of the Post-office officials on this and the other heads of 
 inquiry betrayed an unusual degree of official jealousy of in- 
 terference, and a very large amount of official partiality. 
 Thus, Colonel Maberly argued, that if the postage of letters 
 were reduced to a penny it would not stop smuggling : in which 
 case they might as well have smuggling under the one system as 
 the other. But his zeal on this point overcame his discretion. 
 " For," he continued, " 1,000 letters might still be sent as a 
 coach-parcel for seven shillings, whereas the Post-office charge 
 for them would be four guineas." But the gallant colonel seems 
 altogether to have forgotten that the item of delivery is, after 
 all, the chief item in all Post-office charges. A few more 
 examples of the statements of the authorities may here be given. 
 Thus, the Secretary said, relative to an increase of letters, that 
 " the poor were not disposed to write letters " (10,851). He 
 thought that, during the first year, the letters would not double, 
 even if franking were not abolished (2,949). " If the postage 
 be reduced to one penny, I think the revenue would not recover 
 itself for forty or fifty years." Lord Lichfield said that he had 
 ascertained that each letter then cost "within the smallest 
 fraction of twopence-halfpenny " (2,795). With regard to the 
 principle of the uniform rate, Colonel Maberly thought it might 
 be desirable, but impracticable " (10,939). " Most excellent for 
 foreign postage, but impracticable for inland letters" (3,019). 
 He also said that the public would object to pay in advance 
 whatever the rate (10,932-3). 
 
 The Committee next had their attention called to still more 
 important facts, viz. that the number of letters conveyed illegally 
 bore no proportion to the number which were not written at all 
 on account of the high rates of postage. On the poor the Post- 
 office charges pressed grievously, and there seemed no other 
 course open to them than that, if their letters could not be 
 received without the payment of exorbitant rates, they must lie 
 in the hands of the authorities. It is only necessary to compare 
 the income of a labouring man with his pressing wants to see 
 that it was idle to suppose that he would apply his little surplus 
 to the enjoyment of post-letters other than in cases of life and 
 death. The Committee were absolutely flooded with instances 
 
Finding of the Committee. 183 
 
 iii which the Post-office charges seriously interfered with the 
 wants and reasonable enjoyments of the poor. On the general 
 question involved, nearly all the witnesses, of whatever rank or 
 grade, evidenced that the public, to an enormous extent, were 
 deterred from writing letters and sending communications, which 
 otherwise, under a cheaper tariff, they would write and send. 
 That this part of the case was proved may be concluded from 
 the language of the Committee themselves : " The multitude of 
 transactions which, owing to the high rates of postage, are pre- 
 vented from being done, or which, if done, are not announced, 
 is quite astonishing. Bills for moderate amounts are not drawn ; 
 small orders for goods are not given or received ; remittances of 
 money are not acknowledged ; the expediting of goods by sea 
 and land, and the sailing or arrival of ships not advised ; 
 printers do not send their proofs ; the country attorney delays 
 writing to his London agent, the commercial traveller to his 
 principal, the town-banker to his agent in the country. In all 
 these, and many other cases, regularity and punctuality is 
 neglected in attempts to save the expenses of exorbitant rates 
 of postage." 
 
 On all the other parts of the scheme, and on the scheme itself 
 as a whole, the Committee spoke no less decisively. Generally 
 and briefly, they considered that Mr. Hill's strange and startling 
 facts had been brought out in evidence. They gave their 
 opinion that the rates of postage were so high as materially 
 to interfere with and prejudice trade and commerce ; that the 
 trading and commercial classes had sought, and successfully, 
 illicit means of evading the payment of these heavy charges, and 
 that all classes, for the self-same reason, corresponded free of 
 postage when possible ; that the rate of postage exceeded the 
 cost of the business in a manifold proportion ; and that, alto- 
 gether, the existing state of things acted most prejudicially to 
 commerce and to the social habits and moral condition of the 
 people. They conclude, therefore, 
 
 1. That the only remedy is a reduction of the rates, the more 
 frequent despatch of letters, and additional deliveries. 
 
 2. That the extension of railways makes these changes 
 urgently necessary. 
 
 3. That a moderate reduction in the rates would occasion loss, 
 
1 84 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 without diminishing the peculiar evils of the present state of 
 things, or giving rise to much increased correspondence ; and, 
 
 4. That the principle of a low, uniform rate is just in itself, 
 and when combined with prepayment and collection by stamp, 
 would be exceedingly convenient and highly satisfactory to the 
 public. 
 
 So far, their finding, point by point, was in favour of 
 Mr. Hill's scheme. They reported further that, in their opinion, 
 the establishment of a penny rate would not, after a temporary 
 depression, result in any ultimate loss to the revenue. As, 
 however, the terms of their appointment precluded them from 
 recommending any plan which involved an immediate loss, 
 they restricted themselves to suggesting a uniform twopenny 
 rate. 
 
 The Commissioners of Post-office Inquiry consisting of Lord 
 Seymour, Lord Duncannon, and Mr. Labouchere who were 
 charged with an "inquiry into the management of the Post- 
 office," had already concluded their sittings, and had decided 
 upon recommending Mr. Hill's plan as far as it concerned the 
 " twopenny post " department ; that being the only branch then 
 under consideration. "We propose," say they, and the words 
 are significant, " that the distinction in the rates and districts, 
 which now applies to letters delivered in the twopenny and 
 threepenny post, shall not in any way affect correspondence 
 transmitted under stamped covers ; and that any letter not 
 exceeding half an ounce shall be conveyed free within the metro- 
 polis, and the district to which the town and country deliveries 
 extend, if inclosed in an envelope bearing a penny stamp" 
 
 With these important recommendations in its favour, the 
 scheme was submitted to Parliament. After some little delay 
 the Government took the aaaatter into its hands, and the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Baring (who had succeeded 
 Mr. Spring Rice on his being sent to the House of Lords as 
 Lord Monteagle), and the present Sir Francis Thornhill Baring, 
 had the project of a uniform rate of postage embodied in a Bill 
 which passed in the session of 1839. This Act, which was 
 affirmed by a majority of 102 members, conferred temporarily 
 the necessary powers on the Lords of the Treasury. The 
 opposition in the House of Commons was feeble, as many of 
 
Literature on the subject. 185 
 
 the Conservative party did not oppose. Sir Robert Peel's chief 
 argument against the change was that it would necessitate a 
 resort to a direct tax on income at least this was the only 
 objection avowed. In order, however, to strengthen the hands 
 of Government, now that the question had been narrowed in 
 most men's minds to the single one of revenue, the majority 
 pledged themselves to vote for some substituted tax, if, upon 
 experience, any substitute should be needed. 1 
 
 In our attempt to give a continuous account of the proceedings 
 and the result of the Committee's deliberations, we may seem 
 to have neglected to notice much that went on outside the doors 
 of the Committee-room in favour of the measure. At the risk of 
 disturbing the chronology of our account, we must go back over 
 some of the ground for twelve months past. The Mercantile 
 Committee was actively engaged during all the time in spreading 
 information of the progress of the measure, and rousing the 
 public to a due sense of its importance. Not only was the Post 
 Circular kept circulating, but hand-bills, fly-sheets, pictorial 
 illustrations, some of which turned the arguments and statements 
 of opponents to ridicule, were distributed in great numbers. 
 Even the dramatic form of representation was resorted to. " A 
 Report of a Scene at Windsor Castle respecting the Uniform 
 Penny Postage," was presented in the form of a short drama. 
 In one part, the scene being laid in the Council Chamber of 
 Windsor Castle, the queen is made to say aloud : 
 
 " Mothers pawning their clothes to pay the postage of a child's letters ! 
 Every subject studying how to evade the postage without caring for the law ! 
 .... (To Lord Melbourne.) I trust, rny Lord, you have commanded the 
 attendance of the Postmaster-General and Mr. Rowland Hill, as I directed, in 
 order that I may hear the reasons of both about this universal penny postage 
 plan, which appears to me likely to remove all these great evils." 
 
 After Rowland Hill has detailed his plan, and Lord Lichfield 
 has abused it, and Lord Melbourne has confessed his ignorance 
 of. both sides of the question, the queen takes the reformer's 
 side very warmly, seeming to understand the minutest details. 
 After much amusing matter, wherein the arguments for reform 
 are well touched up, the Postmaster-General says that he feels 
 
 1 Hansard, vol. xlix. 1839. 
 
1 86 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 uneasy, and wishes to be relieved from the audience. After he 
 has retired, the queen sums up as follows : 
 
 " What I have read, and this interview, have convinced me that a uniform 
 penny post is most advisable. I am sure it would confer a great boon on the 
 poorer classes of my subjects, and would be the greatest benefit to religion, to 
 morals, to general knowledge, and to trade." After commanding Lord Mel- 
 bourne to attend to it, she concludes : " Mr. Hill, the nation will owe you a 
 large debt of gratitude, which I am sure it will not be unwilling to repay." 
 
 A cheap edition of this jeu d'esprit was published by the 
 London Committee, and circulated by thousands. It was so 
 plain and pungent, and the form given to it proved so attractive, 
 that it brought the question home to the masses of the nation in 
 a remarkable manner. This cheap edition finished as follows: 
 
 " Mothers and fathers that wish to hear from their absent children ; 
 
 " Friends who are parted that wish to write to each other ; 
 
 " Farmers that wish to hear of the best market ; 
 
 " Tradesmen that wish to receive money quickly and cheaply ; 
 
 " Mechanics and labourers that wish to learn where good work and high 
 wages are to be had ; 
 
 " Support your queen and the report of the House of Commons with your 
 petitions for a uniform penny post." 
 
 Nor were there wanting other helpers who did good service in 
 a more staid way for the movement. Mr. W. H. Ashurst, in an 
 able pamphlet, 1 went over the entire ground up to that time, 
 strongly advocating a thorough trial of the scheme. Lord 
 Brougham, in the House of Lords, urgently hoped that the 
 opposition of the Post-office authorities might not be allowed to 
 have any unfair weight with their Lordships or the country. He 
 told how the Post-office authorities had before resisted reason- 
 able reform. In a most amusing speech he told how Mr. Palmer 
 had been laughed at " by the oldest and ablest officers of the 
 Post-office " at the time he proposed his great improvements ; 
 yet how, " notwithstanding the * absolute contempt,' the 
 ' scornful indignation ' to which he was subjected, when Palmer 
 laid his reckless hand on the pace of the Post-office horses, the 
 revenue was 150,000?. though it had since fallen to 1,150,0002. !" 
 He begged their Lordships' pardons for giving them such speci- 
 
 1 Facts and Reasons in support of Mr. R. HilFs flan for a Universal Penny 
 Postage. Hooper, 1838. 
 
Preparing for the Measure. 187 
 
 rnens of the wisdom of their ancestors, but they were useful in 
 elucidating the kind of objections people would bring to any 
 kind of innovations. He would hold them out as a warning 
 in the present case. 
 
 No one out of Parliament, at any rate, who read Mr. Hill's 
 pamphlet attentively, or who studied the various phases through 
 which the agitation carried the measure, but was convinced of 
 its practicability ; and a careful perusal of the evidence collected 
 by the Committee of the House of Commons was sufficient to 
 determine any waverer as to the necessity of its being adopted. 
 Still there were serious misgivings as to the steps which the 
 Melbourne administration must soon announce. It was generally 
 believed that the measure would be brought in shorn of some of 
 its most important clauses ; few thought it possible that it would 
 be fully tried. Petitions were presented to Parliament praying 
 that the plan should be tried as a whole, and that there should 
 be no change except one based on the main principles of Mr. 
 Hill's scheme. Lord Kadnor spoke the general belief when he 
 expressed his fear that the Government were only about to try 
 " as much of that scheme as would ensure its failure." There 
 were some few objections to Mr. Hill's plan, and some difficulties 
 about it ; but the nation at large had decided for it, and some 
 of the principal men in the country, not favourable to the then 
 existing Ministry, decided for it also. The Duke of Wellington 
 was " disposed to admit, that that which was called Mr. R. Hill's 
 plan was, if it was adopted as it was proposed, of all the plans 
 that which was most likely to be successful." 1 The Duke of 
 Richmond, waiving all objections, pressed upon the Ministers, 
 that if they gave their sanction to any uniform plan, it should 
 be to Mr. Hill's, " for that alone, and not the twopenny postage, 
 seems to me to give hope of ultimate success." 2 
 
 On the 12th of November, 1839, the Lords of the Treasury 
 set many doubts at rest by issuing a minute, under the authority 
 of the Act before referred to, reducing the postage of all inland 
 letters to the uniform rate of fourpence. This arrangement, 
 which is said to have been made with the full concurrence of 
 Mr. Hill, was resorted to as a means of accustoming the officers 
 to the uniform rate and system of charging by weight ; but this 
 1 Select Committee on Postage, 1843. 2 Ibid. 
 
1 88 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 fact cannot sufficiently have been made known to the country, 
 inasmuch as great and general dissatisfaction was expressed with 
 it, and we find it openly avowed in many respectable organs of 
 public opinion at that time, that the Government meant to 
 establish permanently a fourpenny rate of postage. The reformer, 
 however, has placed the question beyond doubt by stating that 
 this arrangement was only temporary and suggested by him for 
 the purpose above-stated. On the 10th of January, another 
 minute was issued, ordering the adoption of a uniform penny 
 rate. On the 10th of August, the Treasury had its minute 
 confirmed by the Statute 3 and 4 Viet. chap. 96. 
 
 The result of the agitation of only two years was hailed with 
 intense satisfaction by the great bulk of the British population, 
 and it happily forms a pleasant page in our national history. 
 The reform then inaugurated has since spread with such amazing 
 rapidity, that its growth and progress may be said to belong not 
 solely to English history, but to the history of civilization itself. 
 The entire race is now ready to attest the benefit and blessing 
 bestowed upon it by the measure of 1840. From that time to 
 this the feeling of gratitude has shown itself in different ways. 
 One early expression of this feeling may well find a place here. 
 Just after the Act was passed, the late Hartley Coleridge being 
 in the company of a literary gentleman, turned the conversation 
 on Mr. Hill and his scheme. On the spur of the moment the 
 young poet said he thought he could write something about it, 
 and on being supplied with the necessary materials, threw off 
 the following sonnet which is not at all known : 
 
 " They say that spirits can hy thought impart 
 Whate'er they know, and are, or wish to he ; 
 But man, dependent on the ministry 
 
 Of his own brain, has authorized an art 
 
 To memorize the meanings of his heart. 
 The love we cannot hear, we yet may see, 
 May spell the words the strange orthography 
 
 That might make Lindley or old Dilworth start : 
 Taxes, we know, are very wicked things 
 
 They search our pockets and retrench our pleasures 
 
 But 'tis the best of Ministerial measures 
 
 That imps the feathers of young Cupid's wings, 
 
 Father and mother, sister, brother, son, 
 
 Husband and wife, pronounce one benison." 
 
Opinions on the Measure. 189 
 
 The most important organs of public opinion were loud in their 
 praises of the Government measure, and of the men who had 
 taken the most prominent part in the agitation. There were 
 some exceptions, as a matter of course, and there were not 
 wanting predictions as to the certain failure of the new plans. 
 It is now very amusing and instructive to turn to some of the 
 unfavourable expressions of opinion elicited by the passing of 
 the Act. True to its traditional policy, the Quarterly Review 
 fulminated and denounced, but only to find before much time 
 had elapsed that its sage, prophetic averments were falsified by 
 subsequent events. Mr. John Wilson Croker, in the Quarterly, 
 tried hard to extinguish the reformer, but Mr. Hill was made of 
 stuff too stern for him. In October, 1839, this writer stigmatized 
 the measure as " one of the most inconsiderate jumps in the 
 dark ever made by that very inconsiderate assembly." It " is 
 distinguished by weakness and rashness ;" it "is neither necessary 
 nor wise." But the judgment of posterity is in this, as in so 
 many other things Croker attempted, sadly against the reviewer. 
 The Quarterly Review, though the most virulent, was certainly 
 not the only organ that abused the penny postage scheme. 
 Other important serials deprecated parts of the measure, as, for 
 instance, prepayment of letters. Some writers looked askance 
 at the scheme. Few writers of any note publicly expressed 
 complete disagreement with the new plans. Eaikes, in his Diary, 
 with that perverted vision which only sees the little evils of any 
 great social improvement, wrote : " The Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer in bringing forward his Budget, has proposed that 
 the postage on a single letter should be reduced to one penny. 
 This will increase the number of idle scribblers ; be of little 
 benefit to the lower classes, who seldom have occasion to write ; 
 and is likely only to advantage the commercial houses and 
 bankers, who can well afford to pay the postage." The late Mr. 
 McCullagh was led from some consideration or other in one of 
 his works published at the period 1 to speak of " the miserable 
 quackery of a uniform penny postage rate," although he was one 
 of the first to sign the petition from the men of science and men 
 of letters in favour of the measure ! But " hereby hangs a tale," 
 which we might have told, but dt mortuis nil, nisi bonum. 
 1 Commercial Dictionary t p. 990. 
 
1 90 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 The Whigs seem to have treated Mr. Hill with justice and 
 fairness after the measure to which they had yielded had passed. 
 A Treasury appointment was given to him to enable him to work 
 out his plans, or, in the wording of the engagement, " to assist 
 in carrying into effect the penny postage." This appointment 
 resulted in varying success until the Tory party came into power 
 in 1841. After this, things went worse with him ; Mr. Goulbourn, 
 the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, was politely unfriendly ; 
 and the result was, that in the summer of 1842, after about three 
 years of this superintending service, he was politely bowed out 
 of the Treasury on the plea that his work was finished ; that his 
 nursling had found its legs, and might now be taken into the 
 peculiar care of the Post-office authorities themselves. Thus 
 again was the progress of Post-office improvements interrupted 
 by leaving them in the hands of unwilling authorities 
 "prophets," as one writer has said in reference to this very case, 
 "..who had the direct means of assisting in the fulfilment of 
 their own predictions." Mr. Hill entreated the new Premier to 
 let him remain, or in some way to exercise a supervision over 
 his system, at any pecuniary sacrifice to himself, but his 
 entreaties were unavailing. He must watch his scheme from 
 a distance. 1 
 
 Speaking of the hindrance which Mr. Hill met with in official 
 circles, we are reminded of a pamphlet which appeared shortly 
 after this period, during Mr. Hill's exile, evidently from some 
 Post-office official, On the Administration of the Post-office. 2 
 
 1 "Lord Lowther," so Mr. Hill was told, "was a steady friend to post 
 reform, and was well acquainted with the department." Without doubt the 
 new Postmaster-General's feelings, however ridiculous, were consulted in this 
 matter. Mr. Hill's anxiety for the general scheme, and for subsequent minor 
 proposals, was quite natural. When refused the Treasury appointment, he 
 asked to be taken into the Post-office, there to see his plans worked out. 
 Lord Lowther, when he comes to speak on the proposal, somewhat indignantly 
 asks the Treasury Lords if " the character and fortunes of the thousands 
 employed in the Post-Office are to be placed at the mercy of an individual 
 who confesses that he is ' not very familiar with the details of the methods 
 now practised.' " "It is easy to imagine," continued Lord Lowther, "the 
 damage the community might sustain from his tampering with a vast machine 
 interwoven witli all the details of Government, and necessary to the daily 
 habits and events of this great empire ! " The matter is not one of " detail," 
 but of "principle; " if their Lordship's want this or that carried into execu- 
 tion, they have only to say so, and Lord Lowther will see that it is done, 
 " though it may be in opposition to my own opinion." 
 
 * Hatchard and Son. 1844. 
 
Opinions on the Measure. 191 
 
 This precious pamphlet has been long consigned to well-merited 
 oblivion, and we only rescue it for a moment from the limbo 
 of all worthless things to show the feeling which then actuated 
 some of those in office. The reader can scarcely fail to be 
 reminded of the criticism which Mr. Palmer's scheme called 
 forth from the leading spirits of the Post-office of his day. The 
 pamphlet, illogical where it is not abusive, laid it down as a 
 principle that "the Post-office is not under any obligation to 
 convey the correspondence of the country." Again, that "the 
 Post-office is a Government monopoly for the benefit of the 
 public revenue, and exists for the sole purpose of profit." Then 
 there are praises for the old, and abuses for the new regime. 
 " The celerity, the certainty, the security with which so vast a 
 machine executed such an infinite complexity of details were 
 truly admirable ! " On the other hand, " whilst mesmerism and 
 the other attractive novelties of the day have had their hour, 
 the quackery of penny postage ought surely now to follow the 
 same course." Mr. Hill comes in for a good share of detraction. 
 His figures are " garbled extracts ; " some of his statements 
 " beneath criticism ; " whilst his complaints are judged " morti- 
 fied vanities ! " He is further " kindly counselled " to leave " his 
 pet scheme to the practical men of the Post-office." In the 
 following flowery language he is recommended to " behold it 
 (his project) as a spectator from the shore, viewing his little 
 bark in safety, navigated by those who are practically best 
 acquainted with the chart, wind, and waves." 
 
 Mr. Hill's popularity outside the Post-office contrasted favour- 
 ably with the estimation in which he was held inside. The 
 entire community had become impressed with the value of his 
 measures, and the important services he had rendered. Spurred 
 on to exertions by the treatment he had received at the hands of 
 an Administration, which, to use the fine expression of Lord 
 Halifax in reference to another public benefactor, " refused to 
 supply the oil for a lamp which gave so much light," a public 
 subscription was opened throughout the country, which, joined 
 in by all classes, was quickly represented by a handsome sum. 
 The money, which amounted to over thirteen thousand pounds, 
 and which was only considered an expression of national grati- 
 tude, and by no means a full requital for his services, was 
 
192 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 presented to him at a public banquet got up in London under 
 the auspices of the " Mercantile Committee." In an address 
 which accompanied the testimonial, Mr. Hill's measure of reform 
 was pronounced one " which had opened the blessings of a free 
 correspondence to the teacher of religion, the man of science and 
 literature, the merchant and trader, and the whole British nation 
 especially the poorest and most defenceless portions of it a 
 measure which is the greatest boon conferred in modern times 
 on all the social interests of the civilized world." Mr. Hill's 
 bearing on the occasion in question is described as most modest 
 and unassuming. He expressed his gratitude for the national 
 testimonial in few but telling phrases. He delicately alluded 
 to his proscription from office, regretting that he could not 
 watch the progress of his measure narrowly, and pointed out 
 improvements which were still necessary to give complete 
 efficiency to his reform. Mr. Hill gave ample credit to those 
 who had sustained him in his efforts to carry his plans through 
 Parliament, and especially named Messrs. Wallace and War- 
 burton, members of the Special Committee of 1838, Mr. Baring, 
 the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lords Ashburton and 
 Brougham. 
 
 We shall have frequent occasion, as we advance, to mention 
 Mr. Hill's name in connexion with Post-office history during the 
 past twenty years ; but we may here notice the remaining par- 
 ticulars of Mr. Hill's personal history. On the restoration of the 
 Whigs to power in 1846, Mr. Hill was brought back into office, 
 or rather first placed in office at St. Martin's-le-Grand, as secre- 
 tary to the Postmaster-General, the present Marquis of Clanri- 
 carde. In 1854, on Colonel Maberly's removal to the Audit 
 Office, Mr. Hill attained the deserved honour of Secretary to 
 the Post-office, under the late Lord Canning the highest fixed 
 appointment in the department, and second only in responsibility 
 to that of Postmaster-General. In 1860 Mr. Hill was further 
 honoured with the approval of his sovereign, and few will 
 question it, if we say it was a worthy exercise of the royal 
 prerogative, when he was called to receive the dignity of Knight 
 Commander of the Bath. 
 
 The arduous exertions, extending over a quarter of a century, 
 and the increasing duties of the Secretary of the Post-office 
 
Sir Rowland Hill. 1 93 
 
 have, within the last few years, begun to tell upon the physical 
 system of Sir Kowland Hill, and have more than once caused 
 him to absent himself from the post which he has made so 
 honourable and responsible. During the autumn of 1863 he 
 obtained leave of absence from active duty for six months his 
 place being filled by Mr. Tilley, the senior assistant secretary of 
 the Post-office a step which was generally understood to be 
 preparatory to his resignation, should no improvement be manifest 
 in his health. His retirement was announced during March, 
 1864, when he left the Post-office, and passed " not into obscurity, 
 but into deserved repose." May he be long spared to enjoy the 
 rest and quiet which he has so well earned, and the gratitude and 
 sympathy which must be universally felt for him. His early 
 work, that would have been Herculean, even if it had not been 
 assailed by foes without and foes within, must have caused him 
 immense labour of hand and labour of brain ; the carrying out 
 also of many important subsequent measures, which may be said 
 to have followed as necessary corollaries of his great reform, 
 must have occasioned him an amount of bodily and mental toil 
 and excitement of which the " roll of common men " have neither 
 experience nor conception. Not to speak of his services to 
 commerce, Sir Rowland Hill, more than any living individual, 
 has succeeded in drawing close the domestic ties of the nation, 
 and extending in all and in every way the best interests of social 
 life. Mr. Ashurst, in 1838, wrote in his pamphlet, to which 
 we have referred previously, " Mr. Hill has rendered immense 
 service to the public, and will ultimately be considered as the 
 benefactor of his country." To a great extent this prediction 
 has already been verified, although opinions may very probably 
 differ as to the form and extent which the public gratitude has 
 taken up to this time. 
 
 The Executive Government, in a Treasury minute, dated 
 March llth, 1864, in just and highly appreciative language 
 unusually complimentary for that class of official documents 
 signified its resolution to grant Sir Rowland Hill his full salary 
 as a retiring allowance. After recounting his valuable services, 
 and stating that his case was a fitting one for special arrange- 
 ment, it thus proceeds : " Under the circumstances, it may 
 justly be averred that my Lords are dealing on the present 
 
 o 
 
194 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 occasion with the case not merely of a meritorious public servant, 
 but of a benefactor of his race ; and that his fitting reward is to 
 be found not in this or that amount of pension, but in the grate- 
 ful recollection of his country. But my Lords discharge the 
 portion of duty which belongs to them with cordial satisfaction, 
 in according to Sir Rowland Hill for life his full salary of 2,OOOZ. 
 per annum." Many of the organs of public opinion, and several 
 members of the Legislature thought, however, that " the grateful 
 recollection of his country," though an object the attainment of 
 which would ever be one of the highest ambition, was scarcely 
 substantial enough, especially when it was considered that Sir 
 Rowland Hill's career had been very chequered, and that in 
 pursuance of his favourite project, he had sacrificed prospects 
 which would, in all human probability, have raised him to 
 greater affluence. When therefore Lord Palmerston gave notice 
 of moving that the pension should be continued to Lady Hill, in 
 the event of her surviving her husband, as another instalment of 
 what was due to him, the Premier was urged by an influential 
 deputation to take into consideration the desirability of making 
 a Parliamentary grant of a certain sum of money in place of 
 this deferred pension. Accordingly, in May, 1864, Lord Palmer- 
 ston brought down to the House a message from the Queen, pro- 
 posing a grant of 20,OOOZ. The veteran Premier, in proposing 
 this "honorarium" which the vast majority of Englishmen 
 would like to have seen doubled spoke in eloquent terms in 
 praise of Sir Kowland Hill's invention ; its simplicity ; the 
 amazing stimulus it had given to the commerce arid industry of 
 the nation ; and its inestimable value in the cultivation of the 
 domestic affections, especially among the humbler classes. One 
 voice alone was raised against the modest grant that of the 
 arch economist, the ubiquitous Mr. Williams. The representa- 
 tives of the important constituencies of the city of London, 
 Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds, instantly repudiated this 
 parsimony. Sir Francis Baring bore his valuable testimony to 
 the good humour, calm sense, and intelligence with which Sir 
 Rowland Hill encountered the difficulties raised against his plan ; 
 while Mr. Neate, the member for Oxford (who was private 
 secretary to Sir Francis Baring, when the latter was Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer), very justly reminded the House of the atten- 
 
Sir Rowland HilVs Retirement. 195 
 
 tion, the time, and the labour which Sir Francis himself had 
 bestowed upon the measure. 
 
 It only remains to add that the inhabitants of Birmingham 
 and Liverpool have cordially recognised, in different ways, Sir 
 Rowland Hill's services ; that since his retirement, the Society 
 of Arts has presented him with the first gold " Albert medal," 
 recently established in memory of the late President, the Prince 
 Consort, to be given " for distinguished merit in promoting arts, 
 manufactures, or commerce ; " and that the University of Oxford 
 has conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Common 
 Law. It is pleasant to read, in connexion with the last honour, 
 how even the wayward and boisterous undergraduates forsook 
 their frolics for one moment, to receive with becoming warmth 
 the man who had helped them so largely to increase their social 
 enjoyments. 
 
 One thing we take leave to think Sir Rowland Hill might 
 have been spared on his retirement, 1 and we cannot conclude 
 this chapter without alluding to it. We refer to the endeavour 
 made in one or two influential quarters to partition the honour 
 of suggesting the uniform plan of penny postage between the 
 late Secretary and some others, who, with the exception of Mr. 
 Wallace, of Kelly, have never been definitely named. Now, we 
 maintain that if a clear and practicable way be not shown to the 
 realization of a plan for any comprehensive change, the mere 
 
 1 Another little, matter which ought not to be passed over unnoticed was 
 the attitude of the leaders of the Conservative party. We say leaders, because 
 the great body of Conservatives are no less grateful than others for a blessing 
 which all share alike. Nor is it possible that either leaders or followers can 
 wish for a return to the old order of things. During the discussions relating 
 to Sir Rowland Hill, but one Conservative member raised his voice in the 
 otherwise general acclaim. We are led to notice this not on Sir R. Hill's 
 behalf alone, but in the general interest of civil servants, who like him deserve 
 well of their country, whose claims must come from time to time before the 
 Legislature, and whose merits must now more than ever meet with their 
 proper and unstinted reward. That the services of disfranchised official men 
 should be viewed through a party medium is unfair to them. Apart from 
 any political bias for we are required to eschew politics we think it is too 
 evident that the recollection of the foils and counterfoils of 1888, 1839, and 
 1842 1843, had much to do with this apathy and coldness. Afterwards, one 
 of the leading opposition organs, taking its cue from the vis inertia in high 
 places, must need speak of Sir R. Hill as " one of the most favoured of public 
 servants," " few men have had such a prosperous career" ! and more ad 
 nauseam. On the whole, while his merits and claims have been promptly and 
 cordially, if not fully, recognised by the one great section of the community, 
 it is well that he has not been left to the tender mercies of the other. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 suggestion of the idea amounts to little. As a matter of fact, 
 however, there is absolutely no evidence forthcoming of any 
 one having as much as offered the theory of a uniform low rate 
 of postage and payment by weight, before the publication of the 
 pamphlet on Post Reform; and really no one will pretend to 
 dispute that the great merit of carrying out the penny post 
 measure belongs to Sir Rowland Hill. Of course that measure 
 could not have so succeeded without the assistance of others, and 
 we are not left in doubt as to how much of the success is owing 
 to the cordial co-operation, since 1845, of the principal officers 
 of the Post-office. In the paper published on his retirement, 
 Sir K. Hill speaks of their services in language which conveys 
 the highest compliment " Men whose ability would do credit 
 to any service, and whose zeal could not be greater if their object 
 were private instead of public benefit." This language Lord 
 Stanley of Alderley almost repeats in the Tenth Report on the 
 Post-office, just published ; when, in speaking with regret of 
 the great loss the public has sustained in the retirement of Sir 
 Rowland Hill, and bearing evidence to the zeal and ability 
 which he displayed in the office of Secretary (page 40), he also 
 referred to the many able men at the Post-office, who have 
 laboured long and diligently in the service, and "who, for the 
 most part, could have but little hope of making themselves 
 known beyond the department." 
 
Anticipations Realized. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 EARLY RESULTS OF THE PENNY-POSTAGE SCHEME. 
 
 THERE are two aspects in which to contemplate the measure of 
 penny-post reform. The first relates to its social, moral, and 
 commercial results ; the second views it in its financial relation- 
 ship. When the system had been in operation two years, it was 
 found that the success of the scheme- in its first aspect had far 
 surpassed the most sanguine expectations ever formed of it 
 by any of its advocates. As a financial measure, it cannot be 
 said to have succeeded originally. In this latter respect it 
 disappointed even Mr. Hill, who, though he never mentioned 
 the date when the revenue derivable from the Post-office would 
 be recovered under the new system, was very emphatic in his 
 assurances that the loss during the first year would not exceed 
 300,OOOZ. Calculating upon a fourfold increase of letters, in his 
 pamphlet 1 he estimated the net revenue, after deducting for 
 franks and newspapers, in round numbers at 1,300,000?. ; a sum 
 only 300,000?. less than the revenue of 1837. We do not say 
 that Mr. Hill originally calculated on recovering the absolute 
 net revenue by the collection of postage; but any deficiency 
 which might continue, after the scheme was fairly tried, 
 he expected to see supplied, eventually, by increased produc- 
 tiveness in other departments of the revenue, which would be 
 benefited by the stimulus given to commerce by improved 
 communication. 2 Before the Parliamentary Committee he was 
 equally explicit: 3 when asked if, on a fivefold increase, there 
 would still be a deficiency on the net revenue, he answered in 
 the affirmative, to the extent of, he should think, 300,000?. He 
 again, however, stated his conviction that the deficit would be 
 
 1 Post-office Reform, p. 26. 
 
 2 Results of the New Postal Arrangements, read before the Statistical 
 Society of London, 1841. 
 
 a Second Report, p. 365. 
 
1 98 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 made up by the general improvement of trade and commerce in 
 the country. It is true that events proved that the falling-off' 
 in the gross revenue was considerably in excess of all the calcu- 
 lations which had been made : but even under this head, much 
 may be said ; and in considering the different results of penny 
 postage, we expect to be able to point out that the scheme had 
 intrinsic qualities in it, which, under proper treatment, must 
 have made it in all respects a success. Mr. Hill met another 
 Parliamentary Committee in 1843, when his recommendations 
 in their principal features, at any rate had been acted upon for 
 three years. In the course of this further investigation to the 
 circumstances attending which we shall presently allude much 
 information relative to the carrying out of the measure, its 
 successes, and failures, was elicited. 
 
 It was shown beyond all dispute, that the scheme had almost 
 entirely prevented breaches of the law, and that if any illicit 
 correspondence was carried on, it was simply and purely in 
 matters where the question of speed was involved ; that the evils, 
 amounting to social prohibitions, so prevalent before the change, 
 had been, for the most part, removed. Commercial transactions, 
 relating even to very small amounts, were now managed through 
 the post. Small orders were constantly transmitted ; the business 
 of the Money-order office having increased almost twenty-fold 
 first, from the reduction of postage in 1840, and then from the 
 reduction of the fees in November of the same year. " These 
 orders are generally acknowledged. Printers send their proofs 
 without hesitation ; 1 the commercial traveller writes regularly to 
 his principal, and is enabled for the first time to advise his 
 customers of his approach ; private individuals and public 
 institutions distribute widely their circulars and their accounts 
 of proceedings to every part of the land." Better than any 
 account that we might give of the reception of this boon by the 
 country, and the social and commercial advantages which were 
 
 1 The reader of such books as Cowper's Life and Letters, and Moore's 
 Correspondence, will find that the means of obtaining franks, or carriage for 
 their manuscripts or proofs, gave the poets frequent uneasiness, and lost them 
 much time. So with mauy needy literary men, in what Professor de Morgan 
 somewhat absurdly calls the " Prerowlandian days." The Professor himself 
 gives an instance of an author sending up some dry manuscripts to him, under 
 cover to a member of Parliament, expressing a hope, we think, that the repre- 
 sentative would feel some interest in the subject. 
 
Increase of Correspondence. 199 
 
 immediately seen to follow from it, we may here give some 
 account of the correspondence which flowed in upon Mr. Hill 
 between 18401842, and which he read to the Select Com- 
 mittee appointed to try the merits of his scheme. Ten times 
 the weight of evidence, and far more striking instances of the 
 advantages of the penny-post scheme might now be adduced ; 
 but it must be remembered that we are here speaking merely 
 of first results, and when the scheme had been but three years 
 in operation. Numbers of tradesmen wrote to say how their 
 business had increased within the three years. One large 
 merchant now sent the whole of his invoices by post ; another 
 increased the number of his "prices current" by 10,000 per 
 annum. Messrs. Pickford and Co. the carriers, despatched by 
 post eight times the number of letters posted in 1839 ; whilst the 
 letters, had they been liable to be charged as per single sheet, 
 would have numbered 720,000 in 1842 from this one firm, against 
 30,000 letters in 1839. In this case we have an exemplification 
 of the correctness of the argument upon which Mr. Hill built 
 his scheme ; for the increase of money actually paid for postage 
 was at the rate of 33 per cent. Mr. Charles Knight, the London 
 publisher, said the penny-postage stimulated every branch of 
 his trade, and brought the country booksellers into almost daily 
 communication with the London houses. Mr. Bagster, the pub- 
 lisher of a Polyglot Bible in twenty-four languages, stated to 
 Mr. Hill that the revision which he was just giving to his work 
 as it was passing through the press would, on the old system, 
 have cost him 1,500. in postage alone, and that the Bible could 
 not have been printed but for the penny post. Secretaries of 
 different benevolent and literary societies wrote to say how 
 their machinery had been improved ; conductors of educational 
 establishments, how people were everywhere learning to write 
 for the first time in order to enjoy the benefits of a free corre- 
 spondence, and how night-classes for teaching writing to adults 
 were springing up in all large towns for the same object. Mr. 
 Stokes, the honorary secretary of the Parker Society composed 
 of the principal Church dignitaries and some intelligent laymen 
 which has done so much for ecclesiastical literature by reprinting 
 the works of the early English reformers, stated that the Society 
 could never have come into existence but for the penny postage. 
 
200 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 One of the principal advocates for the repeal of the Corn Laws 
 subsequently gave it as his opinion, that their objects were 
 achieved two years earlier than otherwise would have been the 
 case, owing to the introduction of cheap postage. After a lapse 
 of twenty years, many more useful societies might be mentioned 
 of which the same could be said. An interesting letter from 
 the late Professor Henslow, the then Eector of Hitcham in 
 Suffolk, may be given, as it contains a pretty accurate estimate 
 of the social advantages accruing to the masses. The pro- 
 fessor had, consequent upon the change at the Post-office, 
 arranged a scheme of co-operation for advancing among the 
 landed interest of the county the progress of agricultural science. 
 After stating that the mere suggestion of such a thing had 
 involved him in a correspondence which he could not have sus- 
 tained if it had not been for the penny postage, he goes on to 
 say : " To the importance of the penny postage to those who 
 cultivate science, I can bear most unequivocal testimony, as I 
 am continually receiving and transmitting a variety of specimens 
 by post. Among them, you will laugh to hear that I have 
 received three living carnivorous slugs, which arrived safely in a 
 pill-box ! That the penny postage is an important addition to 
 the comforts of the poor labourer, I can also testify. From my 
 residence in a neighbourhood where scarcely any labourers can 
 read, much less write, I am often employed by them as an 
 amanuensis, and have frequently heard them express their 
 satisfaction at the facility they enjoy of now corresponding with 
 distant relatives. The rising generation are learning to write, 
 and a most material addition to the circulation of letters may 
 soon be expected. Of the vast domestic comfort which the 
 penny postage has added to homes like my own, I need say 
 nothing more." Miss Harriet Martineau bore testimony to the 
 social advantages of the measure in the neighbourhood where 
 she resided. A celebrated writer of the period gives it as his 
 opinion, that "the penny-post scheme was a much wiser and 
 more effective measure than the Prussian system of education" 
 just then established. "By the reduction of the postage on 
 letters," adds he, 1 " the use and advantage of education has been 
 brought home to the common man (for it no longer costs him a 
 1 Laing's Notes of a Traveller. 
 
Anticipations Realized. 201 
 
 day's pay to communicate with his family). A State machinery 
 of schoolmasters on the Prussian system would cost far more 
 than the sacrifice of revenue by the reduction of postage. This 
 measure will be the great historical distinction of the reign 
 of Victoria. Every mother in the kingdom who has children 
 earning their bread at a distance, lays her head on the pillow at 
 night with a feeling of gratitude for this blessing." Almost all 
 now living, who shared the benefits of the scheme at this early 
 date, could probably relate some anecdote which circumstances 
 had brought to their knowledge as to the operation of penny 
 postage on the poorer classes especially. Thus, the then Inspector 
 of Prisons for Scotland, visiting the Shetland Islands in 1842, 
 writes: 1 "The Zetlanders are delighted with cheap postage. 
 The postmaster told me that the increase in the number of 
 letters is astonishing. . . . Another gentleman who is well 
 acquainted with the people told me, that although the desire of 
 parents to keep their offspring at home is unusually strong in 
 Zetland, yet that cheap postage has had the effect of reconciling 
 families to the temporary absence of their members, and has 
 thus opened to the islanders the labour-market of the mainland." 
 An American writer, 2 in an admirable pamphlet on cheap 
 postage, says : " The people of England expend now as much 
 money as they did under the old system ; but the advantage is, 
 they get more service for their money, and it gives a spring to 
 business, trade, science, literature, philanthropy, social affection, 
 and all plans of public utility." Joseph Hume, writing to Mr. 
 Bancroft, then American minister at the Court of St. James's, 
 1848, says : " I am not aware of any reform, amongst the many 
 which I have promoted during the past forty years, that has had, 
 and will have, better results towards the improvement of the 
 country socially, morally, and politically." And Mr. Hill him- 
 self, in addressing the Statistical Society in May, 1841, 3 made 
 a statement which was neither an idle nor a vain boast, when he 
 assured them that " the postman has now to make long rounds 
 through humble districts, where, heretofore, his knock was rarely 
 heard." 
 
 We have yet the second, or financial aspect of the measure to 
 
 1 Eraser's Magazine, September, 1862. 
 
 2 Mr. Joshua Leavitt. 3 Page 96. 
 
2O2 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 consider. In two years a tolerably correct idea might be formed 
 as to the results of the scheme financially ; but it would certainly 
 not be fair to attempt any full estimate of such a thorough 
 reform within a more circumscribed period. Not that this was 
 not attempted. Colonel Maberly discovered, at the end of the 
 first week, that Mr. Hill's plan had failed, at any rate, as a ques- 
 tion of revenue. No doubt the wish was father to the thought. 
 He not only thought so, however, but proceeded to take timely 
 action and shield himself and his congeners against some probable 
 future attack. In his own words, he charged " the officials to 
 take care that no obstacle was thrown in the way of the scheme, 
 so as to give a colour to the allegation" which the prophetic 
 colonel was only too sure would be made " that its failure was 
 owing to the unwillingness of the authorities to carry it fairly 
 into execution." 1 
 
 In the first year of penny postage, notwithstanding all the 
 confident prophecies to the contrary from those who might have 
 been supposed to have had means of judging, the net proceeds 
 of the Post-office were between four and five hundred thousand 
 pounds, whilst the number of letters actually sent was more than 
 doubled. Against a million and a half yearly revenue of the 
 previous year, there certainly appeared an enormous deficit ; 
 but till all other arguments were exhausted, it ought not to have 
 been considered either evidence or proof of the failure of cheap 
 postage. In the first instance, the Post-office authorities said 
 the scheme would not pay its expenses : a year sufficed to prove 
 their mistake. It was then said that the revenue sacrificed 
 would never be recovered, and accidental circumstances, of 
 which we shall presently speak, favoured for a time this view : 
 the argument, however, was based on erroneous views, as subse- 
 quent events have sufficiently shown. Bad as things appeared, 
 there were, nevertheless, many significant signs, at the end of 
 three years, that the gross revenue under the old would soon be 
 reached under the new system, and even prospects that the past 
 net revenue might still be recoverable. Both these anticipations 
 have now been entirely realized. With a tenfold nay, in many 
 cases, a hundredfold gain to different classes of the community 
 with the Post-office supplying more situations by thousands 
 i Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 246. 
 
Partial Measures. 203 
 
 than under the ancien regime, the old gross revenue was passed 
 in 1850-1, and the net revenue was reached in 1863. More- 
 over, every complaint under this head has long since been 
 silenced. Many considerations went to hinder the early growth 
 of the revenue ; and it is to some of these considerations that 
 we must now turn for a moment. 
 
 It is of primary importance that the reader should remember 
 that Mr. Hill, in his pamphlet and elsewhere, expressed a decided 
 opinion that the maintenance of the Post-office revenue depended 
 upon the carrying out of all his plans. 1 In a speech which 
 he delivered at Wolverhampton, September 7th, 1839, he said: 
 " The mere reduction in the rates of postage will, of course, 
 greatly increase the number of letters ; but much will still 
 depend on the extent to which the facilities for despatching 
 letters are improved by a careful employment of the many 
 economical and speedy modes of conveyance which now exist, 
 and by a solicitous attention to all the minute ramifications of 
 distribution. If, on the one hand, due attention is paid to the 
 increasing demands of the public for the more frequent and 
 more speedy despatch of letters, and, on the other hand, pains 
 are taken to keep down the cost of management, though some 
 temporary loss of revenue will arise, I see no reason to fear that 
 the loss will be either great or permanent." Mr. Hill's proposals, 
 it will be remembered, were embraced under four principal heads. 
 The first, a uniform and low rate of postage, was fully carried 
 out ; but it was the only part of the measure which was realized 
 at this time. The second, increased speed in the delivery of 
 letters ; and the third, consisting of provisions for greater 
 facility in the despatch of letters, were not attempted, or, if 
 attempted, only in the slightest degree. With regard to the 
 simplifications of the operations of the Post-office, which formed 
 the fourth great item, little or nothing was done, though that 
 little was rendered easy of accomplishment by the uniformity of 
 postage-rates. Not only was the scheme not fairly worked, and 
 the improvements only partially carried out, but they were 
 crippled in their operation by officials who, if not hostile, were 
 half-hearted and far from anxious for a successful issue. The 
 natural difficulties in the way of the measure were numerous 
 1 Parliamentary Committee, Third Report, p. 64. 
 
204 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 enough without the addition of official opposition. Trade was 
 nourishing when the Postage Bill was carried ; it was fearfully 
 depressed in the first year of penny postage. It is well, as Miss 
 Martineau points out, that none foreknew the heavy reverse 
 which was at hand, and the long and painful depression that 
 ensued after the passing of the Act, for none might then have 
 had the courage to go into the enterprise. 
 
 This circumstance, accounting, as it does, for some of the 
 deficit in the first and second years, also served to test the real 
 principles of the reform. 1 Mr. Hill's plan, though given over to 
 the apathy and vis inertia of the authorities to " the unwilling 
 horses of the Post-office," as Mr. Baring subsequently designated 
 them really worked well, though at a loss, when everything 
 else was working ill. Moreover, the tendency of cheap com- 
 munication to improve the general revenue of the country was 
 clearly apparent so early as 1842 ; and this is a fact which ought 
 not to be lost sight of for a moment. The reduction of postage- 
 rates was to the community a reduction of taxation ; the capital 
 released was driven into other and perhaps more legitimate 
 channels. The Exchequer lost revenue from one source, but it 
 gained it in other ways, as a consequence on the outlay at the 
 Post-office. In 1842, there was an acknowledged loss to the 
 Post-office revenue of 900,OOOZ. In the same year, no serious 
 deficiency^ appeared in the general accounts of the country, 
 notwithstanding the extent of the depression in trade. 
 
 There were special as well as general considerations entering 
 into the question of the acknowledged deficiency in this revenue. 
 It is clear that Mr. Hill who did not foresee that so much 
 money would be sacrificed, and who was sanguine of recovering 
 it at no distant date likewise could have had but an indefinite 
 idea of the vast amount of extra machinery that would be called 
 into operation by the full development of his plans ; the extent 
 of the measures that must follow if the country was to be 
 equally privileged with cheap correspondence ; and the conces- 
 sions that would have to be granted when the wedge was driven 
 in by this, his principle measure. As only one of the causes 
 
 1 " The first result of the scheme amply vindicated the policy of the new 
 system, but it required progressive and striking evidence to exhaust all opposi- 
 tion." ey. Brit. Eighth Edition. 
 
Railway Mail Conveyance. 205 
 
 leading to the extra heavy expenses of the Post-office depart- 
 ment, we may mention the changes in the system of mail con- 
 veyance consequent on the introduction of railways. During the 
 year 1838, railways had absorbed a large amount of stage-coach 
 traffic. Mr. Hill, when making his original proposals, calculated 
 that the number of chargeable letters might be increased twenty- 
 four fold without overloading the mails, and without any material 
 addition to the sums paid to contractors. So great and important 
 we would almost say vital was the question of speed to the 
 Post-office, that railways were brought into requisition, although 
 the cost of the carriage of the mails was, at the outset, doubled, 
 tripled, and even quadrupled. But this was not all. Not only 
 did the railways charge more than the coaches, but the charges 
 of the coaches actually increased also. The opening of the 
 railways, by diminishing in great measure the competition which 
 had existed on parallel lines of road, led to an augmentation of 
 the rates in some instances to double the usual cost. Many 
 striking examples of the great difference in the cost of the two 
 services might be given. For instance, 1 so late as 1844, a coach 
 proprietor in the North of England actually paid to the Post- 
 office department the sum of two hundred pounds annually for 
 what he regarded as the privilege of conveying the mails, twice a 
 day, between Lancaster and Carlisle. Now the Post-office pays 
 the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway upwards of 18,000/. annually 
 for the same service. 2 The items of charges for mail conveyance 
 by railway at the present time and for several years past if they 
 could have been known by any means, or even guessed at, by the 
 enterprising post-reformer of 1837 might have had the effect of 
 
 1 Postmaster General's First Report. 
 
 2 Bearing in mind these facts, the reader will know what amount of value 
 to put upon such statements as the following. Surely Sir Morton Peto 
 cannot have investigated this subject very closely. " The Post-office," says 
 this amateur financier, " found that the railways afforded the means of carry- 
 ing letters at immensely increased speed, and in immensely increased quanti- 
 ties," and so far there is no dispute about it. " They find also, that, pro rata, 
 the cost of conveyance was diminished : for whilst one railway train can 
 convey as many bags of letters as at least 50 of the old mail coaches (why 
 not have said 5,000 instead of 50 ? the railway train could do the one as easily 
 as the other, but is never required to do either), the payment to a railway 
 company for a train is very little in excess of the payment to the contractors 
 for each old mail coach, so that in addition to increased speed, the Post-office 
 acquired the opportunity of carrying vastly increased bulk at very slightly 
 increased cost." (!) Taxation, p. 107. 
 
206 Her Majesty 's Mails. 
 
 deterring him or others from offering his suggestions when he 
 did. Certain it is, that the proposals would have had but small 
 chance of success, if those who had charge of the fiscal concerns 
 of the country could have known that the sum which would have 
 to be paid by the Post-office to railway companies alone but a 
 very few years from that time, would not fall short of the whole 
 amount standing for the entire postal expenditure of 1839. 
 
 In 1842, Mr. Hill, as we have before said, left the Treasury, 
 and was thus cut off from all active supervision of his measures. 
 Thereupon the "Mercantile Committee" appealed for redress 
 to Sir Robert Peel, and subsequently the matter was mentioned 
 in the House. Sir Thomas Wilde (afterwards Lord Truro) moved 
 for the appointment of a Committee, in June, 1843. After a long 
 debate, in which Sir Robert Peel said he " did not doubt that 
 there were improvements still to be effected, but I presume that 
 they can be accomplished by the constituted authorities," it was 
 granted. The Committee, over which Sir George Clerk, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, was appointed chairman, consisted of 
 eight ministerialists and seven Liberal members. Previously, 
 however, to this date, Mr. Hill had petitioned the House of 
 Commons. The petition which was presented by Mr. Baring, 
 the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer described briefly the Post- 
 office measures of 1839 ; his own appointment to the Treasury ; 
 the fact of his appointment being annulled ; the benefit of the 
 new measures in spite of their partial execution ; the obstructive 
 policy of the Post-office officials ; and thus concludes : 
 
 " That the opinion adopted by Her Majesty's Government, 
 that the further progress in Post-office improvements may be 
 left to the Post-office itself, is contrary to all past experience, 
 and is contradicted by measures recently adopted by that 
 establishment. 
 
 " That, notwithstanding the extreme depression of trade 
 which existed when the penny rate was established, and has 
 prevailed ever since ; and notwithstanding the very imperfect 
 manner in which your petitioner's plans have been carried into 
 effect, the want of due economy in the Post-office, the well- 
 known dislike entertained by many of those persons to whom its 
 execution has been entrusted, and the influence such dislike 
 
The Select Committee of 1843. 207 
 
 must necessarily have upon its success, yet the results of the 
 third year of partial trial, as shown by a recent return made to 
 the House of Lords, is a gross revenue of two-thirds, and a net 
 revenue of one-third, the former amount. 
 
 " That your petitioner desires to submit the truth of the 
 foregoing allegations to the severest scrutiny, and therefore 
 humbly prays your honourable House will be pleased to institute 
 an inquiry into the state of the Post-office, with the view of 
 adopting such measures as may seem best for fully carrying into 
 effect your petitioner's plans of Post-office improvement, and 
 thus realizing the undoubted intentions of the Legislature." 
 
 The prayer of the petition was granted, and its proceedings 
 are duly chronicled. 1 The object of this Committee was " to 
 inquire into the measures which have been adopted for the 
 general introduction of a penny rate of postage, and for faci- 
 litating the conveyance of letters ; the results of such measures, 
 as far as relates to the revenue and expenditure of the Post- 
 office and the general convenience of the country ; and to report 
 their observations thereon to the House." Before proceeding to 
 give any account of the further measures brought under discussion 
 in connexion with this Committee, we must give, in a few sen- 
 tences, a resume of the principal improvements which had 
 actually been carried out during the interval of the sittings of 
 the two Committees. 
 
 1. The uniform rate of one penny for a letter not above half 
 an ounce, with weight adopted as the standard for increase of 
 charge. 
 
 2. The value of a system of prepayment was established, 2 the 
 necessary facility being afforded by the introduction of postage- 
 stamps. Double postage was levied on letters not prepaid. 
 
 3. Day-mails were established on the principal railway-lines 
 running out of London, thus giving some of the principal towns 
 
 1 Select Committee on the Post-office, 1843. 
 
 2 In the last month of high charges, of two and a half million letters 
 passing through the London office, nearly two millions were unpaid, and few 
 more than half a million paid. Twelve months afterwards, the proportion of 
 paid to unpaid letters was entirely changed : the latter had run up to the 
 enormous number of five and a half millions; the former had shrunk to about 
 half a million. 
 
208 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 in the provinces one additional delivery, with two mails from the 
 metropolis in one day. 
 
 4. An additional delivery was established in London, and 
 two were given to some of the suburbs. 
 
 5. Colonial and foreign rates for letters were greatly lowered, 
 the inland rates viz. the rates paid for those letters passing 
 through this country being abandoned altogether in some cases, 
 as Mr. Hill had recommended. 
 
 6. The privilege of franking, private and official, was abolished, 
 and low charges made for the transmission of parliamentary 
 papers. 
 
 7. Arrangements were made for the registration of letters. 
 
 8. The Money-order office was rendered available to a four- 
 fold extent. And 
 
 9. The number of letters increased from 75 millions in 1838-9, 
 to 219 millions in 1 842-3. J 
 
 This was certainly a large instalment of the improvements 
 which the promoters of penny-post reform hoped to see realized ; 
 but, at the same time, it was only an instalment. The Com- 
 mittee for which Mr. Hill had petitioned must now judge for 
 themselves whether all had been done that might and ought 
 to have been done to enhance the merits of the measure, and 
 make it as profitable to the country as possible. In addition, 
 it was requisite that they should consider several further sugges- 
 tions which Mr. Hill had, since the introduction of his plan, 
 proposed as likely to improve it, as well as hear him on some of 
 the objections that had been raised to it. Thus, with regard to 
 the latter, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Goulbourn) 
 had stated just before the Committee was appointed, that " the 
 Post-office did not now pay its expenses." This statement was 
 startling, inasmuch as Colonel Maberly himself had given 
 500,0002. or 600,0002. as the proceeds of the penny postage rates 
 in the advent year of the measure. But Mr. Hill resolved the 
 difficulty. The inconsistency was explained quite simply, that 
 in a return furnished by the Post-office, the whole of the cost of 
 the packet-service a little over 600,0002. was charged against 
 the Post-office revenue. Though the cost of the packets had 
 
 1 Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 93. 
 
Security of Letters. 209 
 
 not been charged against the Post-office for several years pre- 
 viously, this new item was here debited in the accounts to the 
 prejudice of the scheme ; and Mr. Goulbourn, who disclaimed 
 any hostility to the new measure, thought himself justified, 
 under the circumstances, in making the statement in question. 
 
 Again : It was strongly and frequently urged that corre- 
 spondence was less secure than under the old system. It was 
 said by the Post-office officials, that the system of prepayment 
 operated prejudicially against the security of valuable letters. 
 Under the old regime it was argued, the postman was charged 
 with a certain number of unpaid letters, and every such letter, 
 so taxed, was a check upon him. " What security," it was now 
 asked, " can there be for the delivery of letters for which the 
 letter-carriers are to bring back no return ?" With prepaid 
 letters, it was said, there was great temptation, unbounded 
 opportunity for dishonesty, and no check. To some extent, 
 and so far as letters containing coin or other articles of value 
 were concerned, there were some grounds for these remarks. It 
 is a great question whether, in the case of valuable letters, the 
 dishonest postman would be discouraged from a depredation 
 by the thought that he would have the postage of the letter to 
 account for ; but still, freedom from all such considerations, 
 under the new system, would clearly seem to increase the risks 
 which the public would have to run. Previously to the penny 
 postage era, all letters containing, or supposed to contain, coin 
 or jewellery, were registered gratuitously at the Post-office as a 
 security against their loss. Under the new system, it was con- 
 sidered impracticable to continue the service, and the Post-office 
 authorities, with the sanction of the Treasury, dropped it alto- 
 gether. The Money-order Office was available ; the fees had 
 been greatly reduced, and the officials, in warning persons 
 against sending coin in letters, strongly recommended that this 
 office should be used for the purpose. Still, the number of coin- 
 letters increased, and the number of depredations increased with 
 them, to the great prejudice of the measure. Mr. Hill, whilst 
 in the Treasury, recommended a system of registration of letters, 
 which appears to have been somewhat similar to a plan pro- 
 posed by the Post-office authorities themselves in 1838. A 
 system of registration was the result ; but the rate of charge of 
 
 p 
 
2 1 o Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 one shilling per letter was enough in itself to render the entire 
 arrangement nugatory. In October, 1841, Lord Lowther pro- 
 posed to the Treasury that they should let him put down the 
 evil in another way, viz. that they should allow him to use his 
 powers, under the 3 & 4 Viet. c. 96, sec. 39, to establish a 
 compulsory registration of letters supposed to contain coin or 
 jewellery, and to make the charge for such compulsory regis- 
 tration a shilling per letter. The Treasury Lords referred the 
 proposal to Mr. Hill. He concurred in the opinion of the 
 Postmaster-General, and thought the principle of compulsory 
 registration quite fair. He pointed out, however, in a letter to 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, many objections to the plan, 
 and contended that, so long as the registration fee was fixed at 
 the high rate of a shilling, inducements enough were not held 
 out to the public to register their letters voluntarily. Mr. Hill, 
 therefore, suggested that the fee should be at once lowered to 
 sixpence, to be reduced still further as soon as practicable. The 
 public, under a lower rate, would have little excuse for con- 
 tinuing a bad practice ; but if it was continued, restrictive 
 measures might then be tried, as the only remaining method of 
 protecting the public from the consequences of their own im- 
 prudence. The sixpenny rate would, he thought, be remune- 
 rative ; nor would the letters increase to a much greater number 
 than that reached under the old system when they were regis- 
 tered gratuitously. This subject was still under discussion 
 when the Special Committee was granted, when, of course, all 
 the proposals relative to the registration of letters were laid 
 before it and investigated. Strong objections were made to 
 Mr. Hill's proposition to lower the rate. It was contended that 
 the number of registered letters would so increase, that other 
 Post-office work could not be accomplished. The Postmaster- 
 General, for example, contested the principle of registration 
 altogether, admitting, however, that it was useful in reducing 
 the number of ordinary letters containing coin, and the conse- 
 quent temptations to the officers of the Post-office. Like many 
 of the additional proposals, this subject was left undecided ; 
 but no one at this date questions the propriety of the recom- 
 mendations made under this head. The charge for registration 
 has, within the last few years, been twice reduced, with benefit 
 
Mr. Hill's further Proposals. 211 
 
 to the revenue, and no hindrance to the general efficiency of the 
 Post-office. Not only so, but the compulsory registration clause 
 is now in active operation. 
 
 We cannot enter far into the minutiae of the Committee's 
 deliberations. Mr. Hill endeavoured to show that economy in 
 the management of the Post-office had been neglected. The 
 number of clerks and letter-carriers which had sufficed for the 
 complex system that had been superseded, must more than 
 suffice for the work of the office under his simplified arrange- 
 ments : yet no reduction had been made. Economy, he said, 
 had been neglected in the way contracts had been let ; in the 
 manner railway companies were remunerated for carrying mails. 
 He computed that the sum of 10,OOOZ. a-year had been paid to 
 these companies for space in the trains that* had never been 
 occupied. He also endeavoured to show that the salaries of 
 nearly all the postmasters in the country needed revision ; that 
 the establishments of each should also be revised. The changes 
 under the new system, taken together with the changes which 
 railways had made, had had the effect of increasing the work of 
 some offices, but greatly decreasing that of many more. He 
 proposed that there should be a complete revision of work and 
 wages ; that postmasters should be paid on fixed salaries ; and 
 that all perquisites, with the exception of a poundage on the 
 sale of postage-stamps, should be given up. Late-letter fees 
 had, up to the year 1840, been received by the postmasters 
 themselves. Under the Penny Postage Act, however, these 
 fees went to the revenue, and compensation, at a certain fixed 
 rate, was granted to the postmasters in lieu of them. Mr. Hill 
 stated that the amount of compensation granted was generally 
 too much, and was to be accounted for on the ground that the 
 postmasters had, in all the cases, made their own returns. 
 
 Mr. Hill's principal recommendations to this committee 
 were 
 
 (1) The plan of a cheap registration of letters. (2) That all 
 inland letters should be prepaid (care being taken that post- 
 masters should be supplied with a sufficient stock of postage- 
 stamps), and double postage charged for all unpaid letters. 
 (3) Reduction in the staff of officers till the number of letters 
 increased to five or sixfold ; that the London officers should be 
 
 P2 
 
212 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 fully and not only partially employed ; and that female employ- 
 ment might be encouraged in the provinces. (4) Simplification 
 in the mode of assorting letters. (5) The adoption of measures 
 to induce the public to facilitate the operations of the Post-office 
 by giving complete and legible addresses to letters, by making 
 slits in house-doors, and other means. (6) The establishment of 
 a greater number of rural post-offices, till, eventually, there 
 should be one set up in every village. (7) All restrictions as to 
 the weight of parcels to be removed, and a book-packet rate to 
 be established, with arrangements for conveying prints, maps, 
 &c. &c. That railway stations should have post-offices connected 
 with them, and that letter-sorting should be done on board the 
 packets, were among his miscellaneous suggestions. 
 
 With especial .reference to the London office, Mr. Hill again 
 recommended : (1) The union of the two corps of general and 
 district letter-carriers ; (2) The establishment of district offices ; 
 (3) An hourly delivery of letters instead of one every two hours, 
 the first delivery to be finished by nine o'clock. 
 
 Nearly the whole of these recommendations were combated 
 and successfully so by the officers of the Post-office, though it 
 is certainly remarkable that, in the face of their opinions, the 
 great majority of the proposals have subsequently been carried 
 out with unquestioned advantage to the service. It would be a 
 weary business to relate the objections made and the exceptions 
 taken to each recommendation as it came up to be considered. 
 If any of our readers are anxious to continue the subject we 
 can promise them that they will now and then find an oasis in 
 the desert of blue book which treats of it, but little more than 
 that. Of course, the non possumus argument was frequently 
 introduced and adhered to. Colonel Maberly said it was an 
 impossibility that there should be hourly deliveries in London. 1 
 A post-office in every village was impracticable, or, if practicable, 
 quite unnecessary ; and so on. We need only add that the 
 labours of the Committee led to little practical result. They 
 decided, [by a majority of four, not to report any judgment 
 
 1 Like the late eminent Dr. Lardner, who wrote an article in the Quarterly 
 to demonstrate that no steamer could possibly cross the Atlantic, and very 
 soon afterwards availed himself of an achievement he had pronounced impos- 
 sible ; so Colonel Maberly now enjoys, we suppose, the benefits of the 
 frequent deliveries in London, against the possibility of which he pronounced. 
 
Close of the Inquiry. 213 
 
 on the matter. Though this result is not to be wondered at, 
 considering that the majority were ardent supporters of the 
 Government that had dismissed him, it must have been very 
 unsatisfactory to Mr. Hill and all who thought with him. By 
 refusing, however, to exonerate the Post-office from the charges 
 brought against it, the Committee virtually found for the re- 
 former. "With regard to Mr. Hill's further suggestions they 
 refer to the evidence, "and entertain no doubt that his pro- 
 positions will receive the fullest consideration" from the 
 Treasury and the Post-office. So they did eventually after 
 some two or three weary years of waiting, and when the 
 Government was again changed. It is only fair to remark here 
 that after Mr. Hill had been re-installed and set to work upon 
 these various measures, Conservative Ministers no less than the 
 Whig ones worked quite cordially with him, thus proving that 
 they had more confidence in him than their Tory predecessors 
 of 1843, and perhaps that they had little sympathy with the 
 motives which had led to his exclusion. Mr. Hill at this time, 
 however, had no alternative but to leave the whole matter in the 
 hands of the Government, and this he did by taking a place as 
 director of the London and Brighton Railway, at which board 
 he was subsequently appointed chairman. We will close this 
 chapter with his own parting words, addressed to the country 
 at the time when he withdrew from all interference with, or 
 superintendence over, his proposals. " The errors now attending 
 the working of the plan I view with deep regret. Though not 
 in circumstances to disregard the emoluments of office, and far 
 from being so stoical as to slight the pleasure of working out my 
 own plan, I think I can honestly say that I believe my great 
 object has been the measure itself; and that my great regret is 
 to see its benefits impaired or perverted. This, unhappily, I 
 cannot prevent ; but I retire with, I hope, the well-founded 
 confidence of having spared no effort ; and with the consolation 
 I must admit rather a selfish one of feeling that if the present 
 rash course be attended with loss to the revenue, or ill repute 
 either to the plan or financial improvement generally, these are 
 evils for which I cannot be held in any way responsible." 1 
 
 i The State and Prospects of Penny Postage. By Rowland Hill. C. Knight 
 and Co. 1844. 
 
214 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LETTER-OPENING COMMITTEE OF 1844, AND THE COM- 
 MISSION ON SUNDAY LABOUR AT THE POST-OFFICE IN 
 
 1849. 
 
 IT will be fresh in the memory of many readers, that the year 
 1844 revealed to the public certain usages of the Government, 
 and a branch of Post-office business previously kept carefully 
 in the dark which went far to destroy the confidence of the 
 nation in the sanctity of its correspondence. In the session of 
 1844, Mr. Thomas S. Buncombe presented a petition from Mr. 
 W. J. Linton, M. Mazzini, and two other persons residing at 47, 
 Devonshire Street, Queen's Square, complaining that their 
 letters were regularly detained and opened at the Post-office. 
 The petitioners declared that they " considered such a practice, 
 introducing the spy-system of foreign states, as repugnant to 
 every principle of the British constitution, and subversive of 
 that public confidence which was so essential to a commercial 
 country." The petitioners prayed for an inquiry, and Mr. 
 Buncombe supported their prayer. Sir James Graham, then 
 Home Secretary, got up in the House, and stated that, as 
 regarded three of the petitioners, their letters had not been 
 detained ; as for the case of M. Mazzini, a warrant had been 
 obtained from the Home-office to stop and open the corre- 
 spondence of that 'person. He had the power by law and he 
 had exercised it. " The authority," said Sir James, " was vested 
 in the responsible Ministers of the Crown, and was intrusted to 
 them for the public safety ; and while Parliament placed its 
 confidence in the individual exercising such a power, it was not 
 for the public good to pry or inquire into the particular causes 
 which called for the exercise thereof." 1 He hoped the House 
 would confide in his motives, and that they would not call upon 
 
 Hansard, vol. kx. pp. 892-9. 
 
The Post-office and Letter Opening. 215 
 
 him to answer any further inquiries. Mr. Duncombe rose to 
 reply, upon which a question of order was raised. Mr. Buncombe 
 demanded to be heard on a case of urgent personal grievance : 
 " the petitioners," said he, " sought for justice, and as far as his 
 efforts could avail, justice they should have." He then went on 
 to address the House vehemently, and commented strongly on 
 the Home Secretary's refusal to give a full reply. " It was a 
 power," said Duncombe, " which ought to be taken away from 
 any Secretary of State, particularly when exercised in such an 
 unscrupulous manner as it had been within the last two years." 
 He then went into the history of the system. " In the time of 
 Mr. Pitt and Lord Sidmouth, when letters were opened they 
 were always marked with the words ' opened by authority'; at 
 present the case was different ; whilst the Secretary of State 
 retained the same system of espionage, instead of marking the 
 letters thus, they were returned so skilfully closed, that the 
 individual to whom they were addressed was totally ignorant 
 of the fact of their having been so opened." Mr. Wallace next 
 spoke, and in the old exaggerated vein pictured the separate 
 room set apart for the work" at the Post-office, and went on to 
 say that he " believed that persons had been sent abroad, to 
 study in the school of Fouche" how to open, fold, and seal letters 
 carefully." " At the time when franking was the privilege of 
 members," Mr. Wallace continued, he " used to write upon the 
 outside of his letters and franks, ' Please to re-seal and forward 
 this letter after you have read it, and do not burn it.' " Sir 
 James Graham was urged to give more explanation, but he said 
 that having had notice of the motion, he had been quite prepared 
 with his answer, and he had gone as far in explanation as he 
 intended to go. In this, we think, lay his mistake, and the 
 mistake was a fatal one, as it added fuel to the flame. Had 
 the Home Secretary entered more fully into the matter, and 
 carefully given the law as it stood, it is probable that the 
 subject might have been allowed to drop. Nor did Sir James 
 Graham's manner, which was somewhat brusque, improve matters. 
 A few days elapsed, and public attention was thoroughly roused ; 
 the subject came home to every letter-writer ; it was openly 
 stated by the press that a gigantic system of espionage had 
 established itself at St. Martin's-le-Grand, and that, if con- 
 
2 1 6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 fidence had to be restored, the whole question must be laid 
 open to a searching investigation. In the midst of all this 
 excitement and rancour, we may be sure that Sir James Graham 
 was not spared. The fact was, he was abused most unreasonably. 
 Instead of speaking of the system, or, at any rate, of the 
 Executive Government, who, with Sir James, shared an equal 
 responsibility, there was hardly a public print or public speaker 
 in the kingdom that did not seek to heap insults or expressions 
 of disgust on his name. This state of things could not continue ; 
 accordingly, we find that the Earl of Kadnor moved, without 
 notice, in the House of Lords, for a return of all warrants which 
 had been issued for the detention of letters during a certain 
 period, in the course of which he loudly denounced the practice 
 of issuing general warrants to intercept all letters for a certain 
 person, instead of separate warrants for each letter. 1 This mode 
 of proceeding, he truly urged, was a violation of the statute. 
 Lord Campbell thought the question rather a matter for a 
 court of justice than the House of Lords. Lord Brougham 
 observed that the first statute conferring this power had been 
 framed by Lord Somers. It had been continued by various 
 Acts, and had been exercised by all the Governments down- 
 wards. His opinion was, that nothing but absolute necessity 
 for the safety of the State would justify the arrangement. The 
 sooner they had a new Act the better. Lord Denman was for 
 putting an end to the power altogether. The return was granted, 
 the Duke of Wellington approving the Home Secretary's conduct 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 On the 24th of June, 1844, Mr. Buncombe again called the 
 attention of the House of Commons to the subject, by presenting 
 a petition from Mr. Charles Stolzman, a Polish refugee, com- 
 plaining that his letters had been detained and opened. Mr. 
 Duncombe contended that the Act of 1837 never meant to 
 confer an authority upon a Minister of the Crown to search 
 out the secrets of exiles resident in this country at the instance 
 of foreign Governments, but was only designed to meet the case 
 of domestic treason. " Mr. Stolzman was a friend of M. 
 Mazzini," said Mr. Duncombe, " and this was why his letters 
 had been tampered with." After describing the way in which 
 1 Hansard, Ixxv. pp. 975~9. 
 
Motions for an Inquiry. 217 
 
 letters were opened, he concluded a most powerful speech by 
 again moving for a Committee of Inquiry. He did not want 
 to know Government secrets ; he doubted if they were worth 
 knowing ; but he wanted inquiry into the practice of the 
 department, which he contended was unconstitutional and 
 contrary to law. Sir James Graham, without entering into 
 any further explanation, except saying that the law had not been 
 violated, and that if it had, the hon. member might prove it 
 before a legal tribunal, objected strongly, and in almost a defiant 
 manner, to any Committee. Mr. Macaulay, Lord Howick, Mr. 
 Sheil, and Lord John Kussell warmly supported the motion for 
 an inquiry. Sir Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, and Mr. Monckton 
 Milnes opposed it, when it was rejected by a majority of forty- 
 four. What party speeches failed in doing, the clamour and 
 popular tumult outside at length accomplished. Popular ridicule 
 settled upon the subject ; pencil and pen set to work upon it 
 with a will. Newspapers were unusually, and sometimes unrea- 
 sonably, free in their comments, and all kinds of stories about 
 the Post-office went the round of the press. Sir James Graham 
 had to bear the brunt of the whole business ; whereas the entire 
 Cabinet, but especially Lord Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, 
 ought equally to have shared the opprobrium. As it was, the 
 bearing of the Home Secretary in the House of Commons was 
 singularly unwise and unadroit. The subject had now come to 
 be regarded as of too great public importance to be suffered to 
 rest ; besides, it was an attractive one for the Opposition side 
 of the House. Mr. Buncombe renewed his motion towards the 
 end of July in the same session. It was in a slightly altered 
 form, inasmuch as he now moved for a Select Committee " to 
 inquire into a department of Her Majesty's Post-office commonly 
 called ' the secret or inner office,' the duties and employment of 
 the persons engaged therein, and the authority under which the 
 functions of the said office were discharged." Mr. Buncombe 
 made some startling statements as to the mode and extent of 
 the practice of letter-opening, all of which he declared he could 
 prove if the Committee was granted. The Government saw the 
 necessity of giving way, in order that the public mind might be 
 quieted. The Home Secretary now acknowledged, that since 
 he was last questioned on the subject, the matter had assumed 
 
2 T 8 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 a very serious aspect, and he thought it was time that the truth, 
 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, should be told. 
 Though he would have readily endured the obloquy cast upon 
 him, even though it should crush him, rather than injure the 
 public service ; and though he had endured much, especially 
 after the votes and speeches of the Opposition leaders all men 
 conversant with official duties in favour of Mr. Duncombe's 
 former motions, he now felt himself relieved from his late 
 reserve, and felt bound to confess that he believed it to be 
 impossible to maintain the power confided to him longer without 
 a full inquiry. He would now not only consent to the Committee, 
 but would desire that it should make the fullest possible inquiry, 
 and he would promise on his part, not only to state all he knew, 
 but lend all the resources of his department to attain that 
 object. In accordance with this determination, he proposed 
 that the Committee should be a secret one, invested with the 
 amplest powers to commence the investigation at once, and 
 should be composed of five usually voting against the Govern- 
 ment, viz. Sir C. Lemon, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Strutt, Mr. Orde, 
 and the O'Connor Don ; and four who generally supported them, 
 viz. Lord Sandon (chairman), Mr. T. Baring, Sir W. Heathcote, 
 and Mr. H. Drummond. " To this Committee," said Sir James, 
 " I gladly submit my personal honour and my official conduct, 
 and I make my submission without fear." The Committee was 
 appointed after Mr. Wilson Patten's name had been substituted 
 for Mr. Drummond's, on account of the latter being a lawyer ; 
 and after an unsuccessful attempt to add Mr. Duncombe's name, 
 which was rejected by 128 to 52. Its object was " to inquire 
 into the state of the law with respect to the detaining of letters 
 in the General Post-office, and to the mode in which that power 
 had been exercised, and that the Committee should have power 
 to send for persons, papers, and records, and to report the result 
 of their inquiry to the House. A Committee of the House of 
 Lords was appointed at the same time. Sir James Graham's 
 examination lasted four days, when he fulfilled his pledge to 
 make a full and unreserved disclosure of all he knew. Almost 
 all the members of that and former Governments were ex- 
 amined. Lord John Kussell confessed to having done the same 
 as Sir James Graham when he held the seals of the Home-office, 
 
An Inquiry is Granted. 219 
 
 though he had not used the power so frequently. He also 
 stated that he supported Mr. Buncombe in his previous motions 
 for inquiry, because he thought it necessary that the public 
 should have the information asked for. Lord Normanby had 
 used the power in Ireland for detecting " low Bibbonism, which 
 could not be ferreted out by other means." Lord Tankerville 
 testified to the existence of a warrant signed by Mr. Fox in 
 1782, ordering the detention and opening of all letters addressed 
 to foreign ministers ; another, ordering that all the letters 
 addressed to Lord George Gordon should be opened. Witnesses 
 were also brought from the Post-office. Mr. Duncombe, on being 
 asked for the witnesses which he had promised, who would sub- 
 stantiate his allegations, refused to hand in a list of them, 
 except the Committee would allow him to be present during 
 the investigation. This was refused. Thereupon Mr. Duncombe 
 appealed to the House, but the decision of the Committee was 
 confirmed. 
 
 No inconsiderable part of the Committee's time was taken up 
 in the production and examination of records, Acts, and pre- 
 cedents bearing on the subject. The officers of the State Paper- 
 office, and other Government functionaries, produced records and 
 State papers of great importance, from which the student of 
 postal history may learn many interesting particulars. Some of 
 these details as to early letter-opening we have already presented 
 to the reader. During the last century, it would seem from the 
 evidence produced, the practice of granting warrants was ex : 
 ceedingly common ; and they might be had on the most trivial 
 pretences. The English Government might then have vied with 
 that of any of the Continental Powers. Further, it was not the 
 practice to record such warrants regularly in any official book, 1 
 and few are so recorded : we can only guess at their number 
 from the frequent mention made of them in the State trials of 
 the period, and in other incidental ways. In 1723, at Bishop 
 Atterbury's trial, copies of his letters were produced and given 
 in evidence against him. A clerk from the Post-office certified 
 to the fact that they had passed through the post, and that he 
 had seen them opened, read, and copied. Atterbury, as well he 
 might, asked for the authority for this practice ; and especially, 
 1 Report of Secret Committee, 1844, p. 9. 
 
22O Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 if the Secretary of State had directed that his letters should be 
 interfered with ? A majority in the House of Lords decided 
 that the question should not be answered. It is pleasant to relate 
 that twenty-nine peers recorded an indignant protest against this 
 decision. One of them proposed to cross-examine the Rev. (!) 
 Edward Willes, " one of His Majesty's Post-office decipherers," 
 but the majority, going to a still greater length, resolved : " That 
 it is the opinion of this House that it is not consistent with the 
 public safety to ask the decipherers any questions which may 
 tend to discover the art or mystery of deciphering" : Again, at 
 the trial of Home Tooke for high treason in 1795, a letter written 
 to him by Mr. Joyce, a printer, was intercepted at the Post- 
 office, and was stated by the prisoner to be the immediate 
 occasion of his apprehension. On his requiring its production, 
 a duly certified copy was brought into court by the Crown 
 officers and given in evidence. 
 
 Twelve years after the trial of Bishop Atterbury, members of 
 both Houses became alarmed for the safety of their correspond- 
 ence, and succeeded in getting up an agitation on the subject. 
 Several members of the House of Commons complained that 
 their letters had been opened. Revelations were made at this 
 time which remind us strongly of the episode of 1844, both 
 discussions resulting in a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry. 
 It was stated in the debate of 1735, that the liberty which the 
 Act gave " could serve no purpose but to enable the idle clerks 
 about the office to pry into the private affairs of every merchant 
 and gentleman in the kingdom." 2 It transpired on this occa- 
 sion that a regular organization existed, at enormous expense, 
 for the examination of home and foreign correspondence. The 
 Secretary of the Post-office stated that the greater part of 45,OOOZ. 
 had been paid, without voucher of any kind, to Robert, Earl of 
 Oxford, for defraying the expenses of this establishment. Among 
 the principal annual expenses were the salaries of the chief 
 decipherers 3 (Dr. Willes and his son), 1,000?. ; the second deci- 
 
 1 Lords' Journal, xii. pp. 183-6. 
 
 2 Commons' Journal, vol. xxii. p. 462. 
 
 3 The place was not only lucrative, but in the path of promotion. We find 
 that, for the proper performance of these very unclerical duties, the Rev. Dr. 
 was first rewarded with the Deanery of Lincoln and afterwards with the 
 Bishopric of St. David's. 
 
4 ' Letter-Deciphering" 221 
 
 pherer,800Z. ; the third, 5001 ; four clerks, 1,600Z. ; doorkeeper, 
 501. ; incidental charges, but principally for seals, 100Z. The 
 result of the inquiry was, that the Committee condemned the 
 practice, and the House declared that it was a breach of privilege 
 on the part of the Government to use the power except in the 
 exact manner described in the statute. 
 
 Whether any real improvement took place may best be judged 
 by the following circumstances. Walpole, who doubtless carried 
 his prerogative in those matters beyond any two Secretaries of 
 State we could mention, lent his ear to both public and private 
 applications alike, issuing warrants even to further cases of 
 private tyranny. In the Report of the Secret Committee, 
 p. 12, we find that a warrant was granted, in 1741, for what 
 purpose may be judged by the following: "At the request 
 of A, a warrant is issued to permit A's eldest son to open 
 and inspect any letters which A's youngest son might write to 
 two females, one of which that youngest son had imprudently 
 married." And this inquisitorial spirit, beginning with the 
 highest, descended even to the lowest class of officials. Mr. 
 E. Edwards in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xviii. p. 405 
 (quoting from the State Trials, vol. xviii. p. 1369), tells us, in 
 relation to this subject, that so little attention was paid to. the 
 requirements of the Act of Queen Anne, or the Committee of 
 the House of Commons just referred to, that the very bellmen 
 took to scrutinizing the letters given them for their bags. One of 
 those functionaries was examined at the trial of Dr. Hensey in 
 1758, and deposed as follows : " When I have got all my letters 
 together I carry them home and sort them. In sorting them I 
 observed that the letters I received of Dr. Hensey were generally 
 directed abroad and to foreigners ; and I, knowing the Doctor to 
 be a Koman Catholic, advised the examining-clerk at the office 
 to inspect his letters." This witness, in answer to the questions, 
 " How came you to know Dr. Hensey to be a Koman Catholic ?" 
 and "What had you to do with his religion?" clinched his 
 evidence thus : " We letter-carriers and postmen have great 
 opportunities to know the characters and dispositions of gentle- 
 men, from their servants, connexions, and correspondents. But, 
 to be plain, if I once learn that a person who lives a genteel life 
 is a Roman Catholic, I immediately look upon him as one who, 
 
222 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 by education and principle, is an inveterate enemy to my king 
 and country ! " 
 
 At the beginning of the present century an improvement 
 was carried out. It was seen that the indiscriminate issue of 
 the warrants was stimulated and fostered by the fact that no 
 account was kept of them. As a means of placing a necessary 
 check upon the officers, Lord Spencer, then Home Secretary, 
 introduced the custom in 1806, of recording the dates of all 
 warrants granted, and the purposes for which they were issued. 
 Since the year 1822, the whole of the warrants themselves have 
 been preserved at the Home-office. In comparing the number 
 of warrants issued by different Home Secretaries during the 
 present century, we find that Sir James Graham enjoys the 
 unenviable notoriety of having granted the greatest number, 
 though the fact is partly explained by the commotion which the 
 Chartists made in the north of England, 1842-3. 
 
 The revelations made in the two Committees with reference 
 to foreign correspondence, especially that of foreign Ministers 
 accredited at the English Court, were very remarkable, and not 
 likely to induce confidence in our postal arrangements on the 
 part of other Powers. It was shown that in times of war whole 
 foreign mails had been known to have been detained, and the 
 letters almost individually examined. The Lords' Committee 
 went so far as to say it was clear, " that it had been for a long 
 period of time and under successive administrations, up to the 
 present time, an established practice that the foreign corre- 
 spondence of foreign Ministers passing through the General 
 Post-office should be sent to a department of the Foreign- 
 office, before the forwarding of such correspondence, according 
 to the address." What the feelings of foreign Governments 
 were at this revelation may well be imagined. They would 
 know, of course, that the English Government, hundreds of 
 years ago, had not scrupled to lay violent hands on the letters 
 of their representatives, if by any possibility they could get 
 hold of them. When Wolsey, for example, wanted possession 
 of the letters of the ambassadors of Charles V. he went to work 
 very openly, having ordered " a watche should be made " in and 
 about London, and all persons going en route to the Continent 
 to be questioned and searched. " One riding towards Brayne- 
 
Finding of the Committee of 1844. 223 
 
 ford," says an early record, " when examyned by the watche, 
 answered so closely, that upon suspicion thereof, they searched 
 him, and found secretly hyd aboute hym a pacquet of letters in 
 French." In the reign of Queen Mary, Gardiner ordered that 
 the messengers of Noailles, the French ambassador, should be 
 taken and searched in much the same manner. 1 Notwithstand- 
 ing this, they would scarcely be prepared for the information 
 that later Governments, with less to fear, had preferred more 
 secret measures, establishing a system of espionage which was 
 certainly not in accordance with the English character, or likely 
 to subserve the interests of peace in Europe. That the arrange- 
 ment with regard to foreign mails was unlawful, may be judged 
 by the prompt action which was taken in the matter. " Since 
 June, 1844, the Postmaster-General," so runs the Lords' Eeport 
 two months later, " having had his attention called to the fact 
 that there was no sufficient authority for this practice, has 
 discontinued it altogether." 
 
 The Commons' Committee reported that the letter-opening 
 warrants might be divided into two classes (1) Those issued in 
 furtherance of criminal justice, usually for the purpose of afford- 
 ing some clue to the hiding-place of an offender, or to the mode 
 or place of concealment of property. (2) Those issued for the 
 purpose of discovering the designs of persons known or sus- 
 pected to be engaged in proceedings dangerous to the State, or 
 deeply involving British interests, from being carried on in the 
 United Kingdom. In the case of both classes of warrants, the 
 mode of proceeding was nearly similar. The first were issued 
 on the application of the law-officers ; the principal Secretary of 
 State himself determined when to issue the latter. No record 
 was kept of the grounds on which the second class of warrants 
 were issued. "The letters which have been detained and 
 opened are," according to the Committee, 2 " unless retained by 
 special order, as sometimes happens in criminal cases, closed and 
 resealed without affixing any mark to indicate that they have 
 been so detained and opened, and are forwarded by post accord- 
 ing to their respective superscriptions." They then classed the 
 warrants issued during the present century in the following 
 
 1 Fronde. 
 
 2 Report of Secret Committee, 1844, pp. Li 17. 
 
224 H r Ma testy's Mails. 
 
 way : For thefts, murders, and frauds, 162 ; for treason and 
 sedition, 77 ; foreign correspondence, 20 ; prisoners of war, 13 ; 
 miscellaneous, 1 1 ; and for uncertain purposes, 89. Undoubtedly, 
 with one class of letters, the Government were only performing 
 a duty in applying the law as laid down in 1 Viet. c. 33. The 
 information obtained by the warrants to find the locale of 
 Chartist disaffection was described by the Committee as most 
 valuable and useful to the Government. While the whole 
 history of the transaction in question grates unpleasantly on 
 English ears, there can be no doubt that in other cases such as 
 frauds on the banks and revenue, forgeries, murders, &c. the 
 power was used impartially to the advantage of individuals and 
 the benefit of the State. Whether, however, the discoveries 
 and the benefits were so many as to counterbalance the odium 
 of countenancing what was so like a public crime, and which 
 violated public confidence in the Post-office, or whether the 
 issue of a few warrants annually, in proportion to the 40,000 
 committals 1 which took place yearly at that time, could by 
 any means be called an efficient instrument of police, are vastly 
 different questions. With regard to the general question of 
 letter-opening, the issue was altogether vague and uncertain. 
 Though the practical end of the inquiry was, no doubt, gained, 
 and warrants may be said to have ceased, still the Committees 
 recommended Parliament to decide that the power and prero- 
 gative of opening letters, under certain given circumstances, 
 should not be abrogated. They argued that, if the right of the 
 Secretary of State was denied, it would be equivalent to adver- 
 tising to every criminal conspirator against the public peace, 
 that he might employ the Post-office with impunity. 2 It was 
 decided, in consequence of this finding, that the law should 
 remain unaltered. 
 
 Mr. Duncombe was not satisfied. In the next session he 
 attempted to revive the subject by calling the attention of the 
 House to " the evasive and unsatisfactory character of the report 
 of the Secret Committee," and moving the appointment of a 
 Select Committee to investigate the whole subject over again ; 
 but he met with little success. Sir J. Graham, Sir E. Peel, 
 
 1 Report of the Secret Committee, 184.4, pp. 1417. 
 
 2 Ibid. Commons' Committee. 
 
Attempts to Revive the Subject. 225 
 
 Viscount Sandon, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Ward, and Lord John 
 Manners, spoke against his motion, which he then withdrew. 
 Upon this, Lord Howick tried to carry a resolution for the 
 appointment of a Committee to inquire into the case of Mr. 
 Duncombe's letters only. Mr. Disraeli seconded the motion, 
 desiring not to have the Government censured, but to see the 
 practice condemned. Mr. Koebuck believed that the country 
 would not be content until the invidious power intrusted to 
 the Secretary of State respecting letter-opening was absolutely 
 abolished. Lord John Russell spoke against the motion, which 
 was lost, after a fierce debate, of three nights, by 240 to 145 
 members. 1 After a few days' repose, Mr. Buncombe moved that 
 Colonel Maberly should attend at the bar, and produce certain 
 books connected with his office. The Home Secretary resisted the 
 motion, grounding his objection on the finding of the two Com- 
 mittees, as well as on the necessities of the public service. Lord 
 John Russell and the other Liberal leaders concurring, the 
 motion was negatived by 188 to 113. 2 It was some time before 
 the subject was again mentioned, and might now have dropped, 
 but for the unfortunate occurrence in Italy, which resulted in 
 the death of the brothers Bandieri, which many traced to the 
 action of the English Government. Mr. Shiel hereupon moved 
 a resolution on the 1st of April, 1845, expressing regret that the 
 Government had opened Mazzini's letters, thus frustrating the 
 political movement in Italy. Only thirty-eight in a full house 
 affirmed this proposition. After a motion from Mr. Wakley, 
 and another from Mr. Duncombe, lost by 161 to 78, this long 
 controversy was finally set at rest. 
 
 The English people, it must be added, all along objected less 
 to the power which the Government possessed in the exercise of 
 its discretion than to the manner in which that power was 
 exercised. Mr. Duncombe's statements during the earlier stages 
 of the discussions, relating to the "secret office" never denied 
 could not be forgotten by the public when they intrusted 
 their letters to the custody of the Post-office. The revelations 
 in question caused " a perfect paroxysm of national anger, ;) 
 because it was felt, throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land, that such arrangements were repugnant to every feeling of 
 i Hansard, hxvii. p. 1,025. 2 Ibid. Ixxx. 
 
 Q 
 
226 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Englishmen. Had the officers of the Government broken open 
 letters in the same way as, under certain circumstances, the law 
 allows the sheriff's officers to break open houses and writing- 
 desks, there might still have been complainings, but these com- 
 plainings would neither have been so loud nor yet so justifiable. 1 
 There was something in the melting apparatus, in the tobacco- 
 pipe, in the forged plaster of paris seals, in the official letter- 
 picker, and in the place where, and manner how, he did his 
 work, utterly disgusting to John Bull, and most unsuitable to 
 the atmosphere of England. The law, it is true, remains 
 unaltered, but it is believed to be virtually a dead letter. 
 
 The year 1849 is principally remarkable for the agitation 
 which occurred throughout the country in respect to Sunday 
 labour at the Post-office. A few words must suffice to explain 
 the state of matters before this time. From the earliest establish- 
 ment of the Post-office, no letter delivery took place in the 
 metropolis on the first day of the week. Up to 1849, the whole 
 of the Sunday work at the General Post-office, consisted of that 
 connected with the receipt of certain kinds of government and 
 official letters, attended to by a single clerk and three messengers. 
 In the provincial towns and throughout the country the arrange- 
 ments were quite different, and letter delivery on Sundays had 
 existed from the earliest times. This state of things might have 
 continued with mutual satisfaction, but for a hitch in the machinery 
 of operations, through which the one interest suffered by the 
 arrangements for the other a large number of provincial letters 
 being detained in London in transitu for full thirty-six hours. 
 Our readers will remember that we have frequently spoken of 
 the importance of the chief office as a " forwarding office ; " 
 of London being a centre from which radiated innumerable lines 
 
 1 Among many expressions of opinion to which the inquiry on the subject 
 pave rise, we find the following characteristic effusion from Thomas Carlyle : 
 " It is a question vital to us that sealed letters in an English Post-office be, as 
 we all fancied they were, respected as things sacred; that opening of men's 
 letters, a practice near of kin to picking men's pockets, and to other still viler 
 and far fataler forms of scoundrelism, be not resorted to in England, except in 
 cases of the very last extremity. When some new Gunpowder Plot may be 
 in the wind, some double-dyed high treason, or imminent national wreck not 
 avoidable otherwise, then Jet us open letters; not till then. To all Austrian 
 Kaisers and such like, in their time of trouble, let us answer, as our fathers 
 from of old have answ ered Not by such means is help here for you," 
 
Sunday Labour. 227 
 
 of road ; and that no better arrangement could be made for 
 certain classes of letters passing between remote districts than 
 sending them "forward" through the metropolis. Not only go, 
 but there were the " through letters," letters for instance sent 
 from the North or West for places in Kent or Sussex or other 
 districts beyond London ; and these as well as the "forward" 
 correspondence were inevitably detained by this flaw in the 
 system. A remedy was now proposed with the object of meet- 
 ing this obstruction, but only after other means had been tried 
 in provincial offices to prevent these letters going to London at 
 all (expedients, it should be stated, which caused much expendi- 
 ture of extra labour in the country). It was now determined 
 that forward bags, containing these letters, should be opened 
 and sorted at the General Post-office on Sunday mornings, and 
 forwarded hence by the night mails in the evening. The extra 
 work was to be done by twenty-six men, who should work only 
 between the hours of eight and ten in the morning, who should 
 volunteer for the duty, and -only take it in turns. The Post- 
 master-General might have fired a train to judge by the commo- 
 tion that ensued. This simple-enough measure, which really 
 ended in a permanent reduction of work, caused a great excite- 
 ment in London and also in some provincial towns. Petitions 
 were poured in to the two Houses of Parliament, signed by 
 nearly as many people as expressed a wish to have the boon of 
 penny postage. The Lord's Day Observance Society led the 
 agitation ; hence the prayer of the various petitioners sought, to 
 a great extent, a common object. The burden of the petitions 
 was, that (1) there should be no delivery or despatch of letters 
 throughout the country on the Sunday ; and (2) for a total 
 stoppage of all mail conveyance on that day. Of course public 
 opinion, especially in the provinces, was divided on the subject. 
 Many good men held the opinion that they were not violating 
 the sanctity of the Sabbath by receiving their correspondence, 
 and that they might as well have the whole as only a part of it 
 on that day. However selfish this endeavour to keep a large 
 staff of officers constantly employed, Sunday after Sunday, in 
 provincial towns, may appear, we would not attempt to dispute 
 with them the ground they took. The agitation gave birth 
 to various published letters, among which, perhaps the most 
 
228 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 important was one from Dr. Vaughan, the late Head-Master of 
 Harrow School, and now the respected vicar of Doncaster. He 
 protested against the contemplated change being considered an 
 " affront to religion or a violation of the rights of conscience." 
 For this expression of opinion very ably defended, he had to run 
 the gauntlet of several clerical pamphleteers. As a result of the 
 movement, a motion for an address to the Queen, praying that 
 the Sunday delivery might be stopped all over the country, was 
 made in the House of Commons and carried by a large majority. 
 An able writer in commenting 1 upon this vote would have us 
 believe that the success which attended the mover and his 
 " pious coadjutors " was owing to the allurements of a court ball 
 held the same night, where all but the unca gude of our senators 
 danced attendance ! It is much more reasonable to suppose 
 that the members of the House of Commons were mistaken as 
 to the feeling of the nation, or that they were disposed to think, 
 as many still think, that if the people of London could wait for 
 their letters with becoming patience till Monday morning, the 
 population of other large towns might also do so. Actuated 
 doubtless by the same feeling, Lord John Eussell, who was at 
 the head of the Government, gave way to this expression of 
 opinion. The same reviewer, with another departure from the 
 staid proprieties of the venerable organ in which he writes, tells 
 us that the Premier granted the prayer to punish the House for 
 its bigotry. But such trifling with legislation would have ill 
 become his character, or that of his cabinet, and is certainly not 
 consonant with the known and felt importance of the subject. 
 However it was, there was soon great dissatisfaction at the 
 working of the new measures throughout the country. We can 
 all easily imagine the result to the tens of thousands to whom 
 their budget of letters on a Sunday morning offered their only 
 occupation, and how they would be ready to resent this infrac- 
 tion of their time-honoured privilege. A noisy minority, even 
 supposing they were not more than a minority, would soon make 
 themselves formidable in complaint, and this they seem to have 
 neglected no opportunity of doing. 
 
 A re-action set in and nothing was so certain as this re-action 
 and the subject was remitted to a Commission of Inquiry, 
 1 Edinburgh Review, No. ccxlv. pp. 74, 75. 
 
The Commission of Inquiry. 229 
 
 consisting of Lord Clanricarde, 1 Mr. Labouchere, and the late 
 Sir George Cornewall Lewis. On the strength of the report of 
 this commission, the work at the General Post-office somewhat 
 altered by being thrown more into the travelling offices was 
 continued, and Sunday delivery in England, with a few exceptions 
 (where the arrangement is the same as in Scotch towns), was 
 restored from that time to this. The report in question, from 
 its general importance, as well as the fairness and candour which 
 characterize it, deserves a few words in passing. It opened with 
 the following sentence : " In exercising the monopoly of postal 
 conveyance, the Government as it appears to us, takes upon 
 itself the duty of forwarding the public correspondence without 
 any delay which may not be demanded by reasons of the most 
 cogent nature." They then went into the history of Sunday 
 duty ; noticed that the Post-office was not the only branch, of 
 the public service in which a certain amount of Sunday labour 
 was required ; and showed how derangement followed from 
 exceptional working. The recommendation made with regard 
 to the London office, with special reference to the casus belli, 
 was that the arrangement in force should be continued. With 
 respect to provincial offices that one delivery of letters should be 
 made on the Sunday morning, the delivery not to interfere with 
 the hours of divine service ; and that as far as possible every 
 post-office should be closed at 10 A.M. on Sundays. Further, 
 they recommended that where the duties were "such as to 
 prevent a rural letter-carrier from attending divine service, an 
 arrangement should be made for providing a substitute at least 
 on the alternate Sundays ; " that, in retaining a Sunday delivery 
 in a rural district, the Postmaster-General should be " guided by 
 the prevalent feeling of the district ; " and, in conclusion, that 
 every householder be allowed to " suspend the delivery of letters 
 at his own house in either town or country, if he chooses to do 
 so." The whole of these recommendations have been carried 
 out, and from time to time different portions of Sunday duty have 
 been dispensed with. Rural messengers travel less ; the post- 
 
 1 We would take this opportunity of noting that much of the successful 
 carrying out of the penny-postage reform, and the development of many of 
 Sir E. Hill's subsequent plans, treated of in the next chapter, is due to the 
 Marquis of Clanricarde, who, when at the head of postal affairs, devoted an 
 unusual amount of energy and attention to the department. 
 
230 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 offices in the major part of English and Scotch villages are not 
 opened ; and, since 1850, the Sunday day-mails have almost 
 entirely ceased running. On the whole, it cannot be said that 
 the fullest licence was not, and is not still given, to the entire 
 population, or that the different tastes and feelings of each class 
 have not been consulted. Apart from the consideration that 
 post-office officials in the provinces seem to be less cared for in 
 the way of Sunday rest and Sunday privileges than those in the 
 metropolis, we cannot find any ground for dissatisfaction with, 
 the footing upon which the matter was eventually placed. 
 
R ural Posts. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 FROM the year 1844 to the present time the progress of the 
 Post-office institution has been great and unexampled. Among 
 Mr. Hill's minor proposals were those for the institution of day- 
 mails, the establishment of rural posts, and the extension of free 
 deliveries. The period between the passing of the Penny Postage 
 Act and the year 1850 saw these useful suggestions carried out 
 to an extent which proved highly beneficial to the public. With 
 regard to the day-mails, Mr. Hill proposed that on the morning 
 of each day, as well as evening, mails should leave London after 
 certain country and continental mails had arrived, by which 
 means letters, instead of remaining nearly twenty-four hours in 
 London, might be at once forwarded to their addresses, and two 
 mails per diem be thus given to most English towns. The Earl 
 of Lichfield would seem to have seen the useful and practicable 
 nature of these proposals, for, being Postmaster-General at the 
 time, he did not wait to adopt them till the passing of the Act 
 of 1839. As early as 1838 one or two day-mails were established, 
 running out of London. Before 1850 we find the list included 
 those of Dover, Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham, and Cam- 
 bridge. These day-mails are now established on every consi- 
 derable line of railway in the kingdom. London, in 1864, 
 possesses not only day-mails on all the lines running from the 
 metropolis, but one to Ireland, and two by different routes into 
 Scotland. Further, a great number of railways in the United 
 Kingdom have stipulated to take mails by any passenger-train. 
 
 Mr. Hill also contemplated the establishment of rural posts 
 in every village. This work had been started on the introduc- 
 tion of penny postage, but in 1842 there were still hundreds of 
 registrar's districts without postal accommodation. Up to Mr. 
 Hill's time the urban districts were miserably supplied with 
 
232 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 post-offices, and those only were set up on guarantees being 
 furnished to the Post-office. Hence the name of " Guarantee 
 Posts," called also "Fifth Clause Posts," and "Convention 
 Posts," inasmuch as the Post-office paid only a portion of the 
 expenses, the remainder being made up by local exertions in 
 the district. Mr. Hill, in 1838, and again in 1843, urged the 
 adoption of a plan to furnish a post-office throughout every 
 registrar's district in England and Wales ; then to adopt a 
 similar arrangement if it succeeded for Scotland and Ireland ; 
 and finally to establish a means of delivering letters in every 
 village throughout the kingdom without any extra charge. He 
 was satisfied that a system of rural posts such as this which 
 might be entirely established for 70,000?. would soon be profit- 
 able, and he instanced the beneficial working of the poste rurale 
 in France. There are now more than 8,000 additional rural 
 post-offices since 1839, the erection of which has done all for the 
 public and the Post-office revenue that Mr. Hill anticipated. 
 
 The extension of free deliveries, also strongly urged by Mr. 
 Hill, has progressed fairly from that time to this. Bound each 
 provincial town there used to be drawn a cordon, letters, &c. for 
 places beyond which had either to be brought by private mes- 
 sengers, or were charged an extra sum on delivery as a gratuity 
 to the postmaster. From year to year new places have been 
 included in these free deliveries ; soon the most remote and 
 inaccessible parts of our country the nooks and crannies of our 
 land will enjoy nearly equal privileges with our large towns, 
 more rural messengers being appointed as this work approaches 
 completion. 
 
 In 1848, the advantages of a book-post were granted to the 
 country. By the new rate, a single volume might be sent to 
 any part of the United Kingdom at the uniform rate of sixpence 
 per pound. The privileges of this book-post were gradually 
 extended to the colonies. The railway companies, at the time 
 and subsequently, complained loudly that the Post-office, by 
 establishing the book-post, had entered into an unfair competi- 
 tion with them. This competition was described as very in- 
 jurious, on account of the low rates at which books and 
 book-packets were conveyed. It was answered, however and 
 in this answer the country very generally agreed that the 
 
Post-office Reports. 233 
 
 railway companies had no legal or equitable right to the 
 monopoly of parcel-traffic ; and if they had, the exceptions 
 taken in the case of the book-post were only to books and 
 printed matter intimately connected with objects such as the 
 diffusion of knowledge and the promotion of education matters 
 with which the Post-office was now most immediately concerned. 
 The facts, however, were, that very few indeed of the packets 
 sent by the book 7 post were such as had been previously sent by 
 railway. The Post-office, by offering its vast machinery for the 
 transmission of such articles, especially to remote districts, gave 
 facilities which had never before been offered, and which caused 
 books and documents to pass through the Post-office which 
 otherwise, had no book-post existed, would not have been sent 
 through any other channel. A Select Committee, which sat in 
 1854, on the conveyance of mails by railway, took evidence on 
 this point, and in their report stated it as their opinion, that a 
 large proportion of the packets sent would not have been so 
 forwarded but for the facilities offered by the Post-office in their 
 distribution. 
 
 Any loss, however, which the railways might experience in 
 this respect was more than counterbalanced when the Executive 
 abolished the compulsory impressed stamp on newspapers, this 
 arrangement giving rise to a conveyance of newspaper-parcels 
 by railway-trains to an enormous extent, and proportionately 
 lessening the work and profits of the Post-office. 
 
 In 1855 the Postmaster-General, the late Lord Canning, 
 commenced the practice of furnishing the Lords of the Treasury, 
 and through them the public, with annual reports on the Post- 
 office. These reports, which have been continued up to the 
 present time, show the progress of the Department from year to 
 year, and present to the general reader, as well as to the statis- 
 tician, a vast mass of interesting information carefully and 
 lucidly compiled. 1 Lord Canning, in recommending the adop- 
 tion of the plan, gave as one reason, among many, that the 
 Post-office service was constantly expanding and improving, but 
 that information respecting postal matters, especially postal 
 changes, was not easily accessible. This information, he be- 
 
 1 This is especially true of the Tenth Report just issued, which is even 
 more original aud suggestive than its predecessors. 
 
234 H er Majesty's Mails. 
 
 lieved, could be given without any inconvenience, whilst many 
 misapprehensions, and possibly complaints, might be avoided. 
 The public might thus see what the Post-office was about ; learn 
 their duty towards the Department, and find out what half the 
 people did not then and perhaps do not even yet understand 
 what were the benefits and privileges to which they were justly 
 entitled at its hands. 
 
 The Duke of Argyll succeeded Lord Canning in the manage- 
 ment of the Post-office in 1855, and his years of office are 
 distinguished by many most important improvements and 
 reforms. One important change consisted in the amalgamation 
 of the two corps of London letter-carriers, effected soon after the 
 installation of the Duke of Argyll at the Post-office. The two 
 classes of " General Post " and " London District " letter-carriers 
 were perhaps best known before 1855, by the former wearing a 
 red, and the latter a blue, uniform. The object of this amalga- 
 mation, for which Mr. Hill had been sedulously striving from 
 the period of penny postage, was to avoid the waste of time, 
 trouble, and expense consequent on two different men going 
 over the same ground to distribute two classes of letters which 
 might, without any real difficulty, be delivered together. The 
 greatest objection in the Post-office itself to completing the 
 change, arose from the different status of the two bodies of men, 
 the one class being paid at a much higher rate of wages and 
 with better prospects than the other class. This difficulty was 
 at length surmounted, when the benefits of this minor reform 
 became clearly apparent in earlier and more regular deliveries of 
 letters. Inside the Post-office the work was made much more 
 easy and simple, and the gross inequality existing between two 
 bodies of public servants whose duties were almost identical, 
 was done away. 1 
 
 Still more important was the division of London into ten 
 postal districts, carried out during the year 1856. The immense 
 magnitude of the metropolis necessitated this scheme ; it having 
 been found impossible to overcome the obstacles to a more 
 speedy transmission of letters within and around London, or 
 properly to manage, without some change, the ever-increasing 
 amount of Post-office business. Under the new arrangements, 
 1 Postmaster-General's First Report, p. 35. 
 
The London Districts. 235 
 
 each district was to be treated in many respects as a separate 
 town, district post-offices to be erected in each of them. Thus, 
 instead of all district post-letters being carried from the re- 
 ceiving houses to the chief office at St. Martin's-le-Grand, there 
 to be sorted and re-distributed, the letters must now be sent to 
 the principal office of the district in which they were posted ; 
 sorted there ; and distributed from that office according to their 
 address. The time and trouble saved by this arrangement is, as 
 was expected, enormous. Under the old system, a letter from 
 Cavendish Square to Grosvenor Square went to the General 
 Post-office, was sorted, and then sent back to the latter place, 
 travelling a distance of four or five miles : whereas, at present, 
 with hourly deliveries, it is almost immediately sent from one 
 place to the other. 1 An important part of the new scheme was, 
 that London should be considered in the principal provincial 
 post-offices as ten different towns, each with its own centre of 
 operations, and that the letters should be assorted and despatched 
 on this principle. Country letters would be delivered straight- 
 way without any intermediate sorting to that particular part 
 of London for which they were destined ; whilst the sorters 
 there having the necessary local knowledge, would distribute 
 them immediately into the postmen's walks. With respect to 
 the smaller provincial towns, it was provided that their London 
 correspondence should be sorted into districts on the railway 
 during the journey to the metropolis. Thus, on the arrival of 
 the different mails at the several railway termini, the letters 
 would not be sent as formerly to the General Post-office, but 
 direct to each district office, in bags prepared in the course of 
 the journey. It was a long time before this new and important 
 plan was thoroughly carried out in all its details ; but now that 
 it is in working order, the result is very marked in the earlier 
 delivery of letters, and in the time and labour saved in the 
 various processes. In fact, all the anticipated benefits have 
 flowed from the adoption of the measure. 
 
 In the same year a reduction was made in the rates for book- 
 packets. The arrangement made at this time, which exists at 
 
 1 So late as the year 184-2, a letter posted at any London receiving-house 
 after two in the afternoon was not delivered at Islington until the next 
 morning. Postmaster-General's Secoiul Report. 
 
236 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 present, charges one penny for every four ounces of printed 
 matter ; a book weighing one pound being charged fourpence. 
 A condition annexed was, that every such packet should be 
 open at the ends or sides, and if closed against inspection, 
 should be liable to be charged at the unpaid letter rate of 
 postage. This penalty was soon found to be unreasonably heavy 
 and vexatious, and was therefore reduced to an additional 
 charge of sixpence only. At the present time, the conditions 
 under which such packets may be sent through the post are the 
 same, but the fines inflicted for infringements are still further 
 reduced. 
 
 In 1857 a new regulation provided that a book-packet might 
 consist of any number of sheets, which might be either printed 
 or written, provided there was nothing in it of the nature of a 
 letter. If anything of the sort should be found in the packet 
 on examination, it was to be taken out and forwarded separately 
 as a letter, and charged twopence as a fine in addition to the 
 postage at the letter rate. The packet might consist of books, 
 manuscripts, maps, prints with rollers, or any literary or artistic 
 matter, if not more than two feet wide, long, or deep. 
 
 In the same year, the letter-rate to all the British Colonies 
 (which were not previously under the lower rates) was reduced 
 to the uniform one of sixpence for each half-ounce, payable in 
 advance. The privileges of the English book-post were also 
 extended to the Colonies ; the rate at which books, &c. might 
 be sent being threepence for every four ounces. Exceptions 
 were made in respect to the following places, viz. Ascension 
 Island, East Indies, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and 
 the Gold Coast, to which places the rate charged was fourpence 
 for four ounces, the weight being restricted to three pounds. 
 
 Another important improvement was made when, about the 
 same time, the postage on letters conveyed by private ship 
 between this country and all parts of the world, was reduced to 
 a uniform rate of sixpence the half-ounce. 
 
 Nor were these reforms the only results of the wise rule of 
 the Duke of Argyll. Through his exertions, a postal convention 
 was concluded with France, resulting not only in a considerable 
 reduction of postage on letters passing between the two countries, 
 but in the lowering of the rate to all European countries, letters 
 
Railway Legislation. 237 
 
 for which went by way of France. An attempt was made to 
 arrange a postal convention with the United States during the 
 year 1857, but like so many previous ones, it came to nothing. 
 
 The Duke of Argyll is also favourably remembered in the 
 metropolitan offices, for having granted to the major establish- 
 ment at any rate the boon of a Saturday half-holiday. 
 
 But perhaps his Grace laboured most arduously to bring about 
 a more satisfactory relation between the railway companies and 
 the Post-office. Since the advent of cheap postage, nothing had 
 so much impeded the progressive development of the Post-office, 
 as the adverse attitude of the companies who must convey the 
 mails, now that all other modes of conveyance had been virtually 
 superseded by the power of steam. Although the Postmaster- 
 General failed in this instance, he is none the less entitled to 
 the gratitude of the country for his well-meant attempt to repair 
 the mistake which the Executive originally made in not care- 
 fully providing for the public service. Few could say that the 
 existing law was, and is, not defective. The gain to the Post- 
 office through railways is certainly enormous : besides the 
 advantages of increased speed, they make it possible to get 
 through the sorting and the carrying of the mails at the same 
 time. But here the gain ends ; and, as we have previously said, 
 the cost of the service really done is heavy beyond all proportion. 
 The cost of carrying mails by coaches averaged twopence farthing 
 a mile ; the average cost under railways (now that so many 
 companies take bags by all trains) for 1864, averages sixpence a 
 mile, some railways charging nearly five shillings a mile for 
 the service they render. The cost of running a train may be 
 reckoned in most cases from a shilling to fifteen pence per mile ; 
 and thus the Post-office, for the use of a fraction of a train, may 
 be said constantly to be paying at the rate of from fifty to two 
 hundred and fifty per cent, in excess of the whole cost of 
 running ! The Postmaster-General stated that the terms under 
 which one railway company would undertake postal service was 
 totally disproportionate to those of a neighbouring company. 
 On the other hand, all the companies were alike dissatisfied, 
 however dissimilar the contracts, or the terms imposed and 
 agreed to. 1 Moreover, it was declared next to impossible to 
 
 1 See address by the late Mr. Robert Stephenson oil his election to the 
 
238 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 secure regularity and punctuality in the conveyance of mails, 
 and to agree to amicable arbitration for the service done, until 
 the Legislature should lay down reasonable laws, binding all the 
 companies alike. A Bill was introduced into the House of 
 Lords regulating the arrangements between the Post-office and 
 the different companies. Though it was carefully prepared, it 
 was strongly opposed by the railway interest in Parliament. 
 The opposition was all the more unreasonable, inasmuch as 
 many of its clauses had been inserted, as it were, at the instance 
 of the railway companies themselves. As far as the Post-office 
 was concerned, it seems to have been the extent of the wish of 
 the authorities that the question of remuneration might be based 
 on the actual cost of running the trains, making due allowance, 
 on the one hand, for the benefits accruing to the companies from 
 their connexion with the mail service, and adding, on the other 
 hand, compensation for any special extra expenses to which the 
 companies might be subjected by the requirements of that 
 service, together with a full allowance for profit. 1 The Bill also 
 provided for the more extensive employment of ordinary 
 
 Presidency of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1855, given in the appendix 
 to the larger edition of Mr. Smiles' Life of George Stephenson. Mr. Edward 
 Page, the present able Inspector-General of Mails, replied to his address in a 
 lucid and lengthy report, to be found in the Postmaster-General's Second 
 Report, pp. 44 55. Upon this, Mr. Stephenson published a second Address 
 on the subject, which according to Sir Morton Peto, " quite snuffed out " the 
 Post-office authorities. This second Address was not replied to we should 
 think for we do not happen to have any exact official information on the 
 subject because, firstly, many parts of it were most evidently based on a mis- 
 conception of the motive which induced the Post-office to notice at all the 
 first address, which was not "to depreciate the advantages afforded to the 
 Post-office by railways," as Mr. Stephenson alleged, but only to controvert his 
 statements attaching to railways what was thought an undue value in regard 
 to postal facilities, was not meant to prove that " for the purposes of the 
 Post-office, we had better have been without railways," or that mail coaches 
 could have worked at less expense in opposition to railways, for both pro- 
 positions would be manifestly absurd. The advantages accruing to the Post- 
 office from railways are fully admitted on page 55 of the Post-office Report. 
 And secondly, because Mr. Stephenson omitted to refer in his second address 
 to many most important considerations which Mr. Page adduced. " If the 
 Government and the Railway Companies," concluded Mr. Stephenson, " went 
 hand iu hand, arrangements might be made by which the whole correspondence 
 of the nation might be carried on, in a much more perfect manner with 
 advantage to the Companies, and without any direct payment by the Govern- 
 ment," p. 32. What would this self-denying ordinance have been ? How 
 curious that the matter ended here ! 
 
 i Appendix to Postmaster-General's Second Report, p. 51. 
 
Compulsory Prepayment of Letters. 239 
 
 passenger trains, not, however, to the supercession of the 
 regular mail-trains, for the exclusive employment of certain 
 trains for postal purposes, for penalties, &c. The measure had 
 been brought in late in the session, and was eventually with- 
 drawn. The Bill itself, with its twenty-one clauses, forms part 
 of the Appendix to the Postmaster-General's fourth report ; and 
 as the basis of arrangements between the two interests is still 
 unsettled and uncertain, the Duke of Argyll there commends it 
 to the careful attention of the public, as well as to the fair con- 
 sideration of the railway authorities themselves. 
 
 In 1858, on the accession of Lord Derby to power, Lord 
 Colchester was appointed to the Post-office without a seat in 
 the Cabinet. Improvements continued during his short ad- 
 ministration, both as regards inland, foreign, and colonial 
 postages ; but nothing calls for special mention here except 
 an attempt on the part of the Post-office to render the payment 
 of inland letters compulsory. The plan cannot be said to have 
 had a fair trial. Its benefits and advantages were not clearly 
 apparent, except to those who were acquainted with the machinery 
 of the Post-office. While, without doubt, the principles upon 
 which it was based were sound, the objections to the arrange- 
 ment lay on the surface, and were such as could not be overcome 
 except by the exercise of great patience on the part of the 
 public : the measure pressed heavily on certain interests : a 
 great portion of the less thoughtful organs of the public press 
 manifested considerable repugnance to it, and, in consequence, 
 the Postmaster-General was led to recommend to the Treasury 
 the withdrawal of the order after the expiration of a few weeks 
 of partial trial. As pointed out by Mr. Hill at the time, com- 
 pulsory prepayment of letters was a part of the original plan of 
 penny postage ; it was one of the recommendations which he 
 made, having for their object the simplification of accounts, and 
 the more speedy delivery of letters. The Secretary of the Post- 
 office in urging a fair trial of the measure, 1 argued that after the 
 lapse of a few months it would be productive of good even to letter- 
 writers, not to speak of the saving of time, trouble, and expense 
 to the Department. He added that there were no difficulties 
 attributable to the new rule which might not be surmounted by 
 1 Fifth Report, Appendix, pp. 4348. 
 
240 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 a little care or ingenuity. 1 As it was, the public preferred an 
 immediate termination of the experiment to the possible and 
 problematical advantages that might arise from its continuance ; 
 and in this instance the country was indulged by an early return 
 to the old plan. 
 
 In the following year, Lord Colchester was succeeded by the 
 late Earl of Elgin as Postmaster-General, with a seat in Lord 
 Palmerston's Cabinet. When Lord Elgin was sent on the 
 special mission to the East in 1860, the Duke of Argyll held 
 the joint offices of Lord Privy Seal and Postmaster-General 
 until a permanent successor was appointed in the person of Lord 
 Stanley of Alderley, who still ably fills the office. 
 
 In 1859, the Money-order Office in London, and the money- 
 order system generally, were remodelled. By a process meant 
 to simplify the accounts, and other judicious alterations, a saving 
 of 4,OOOZ. a year was effected, while the public were benefited 
 by some concessions that had been much desired, such as the 
 granting of money-orders up to the amount of 10/5. instead of 51. 
 The money-order system was likewise extended to the colonies, 
 the first connexion of the kind having been opened with Canada 
 and our European possessions of Gibraltar and Malta. It has 
 subsequently been extended to the principal British colonies, 
 including the whole of Australia. 
 
 Important improvements were also made in the department 
 charged with the transmission of mails. Several accelerations 
 in one case a most important one were made in the speed of 
 the principal mail-trains ; the number of travelling post-offices 
 was increased ; the construction of the whole of them was im- 
 proved ; and the apparatus-machinery, attached to the carriages 
 for the exchange of mail-bags at those stations where the mail- 
 trains do not stop, was called more and more into requisition. 
 
 Under the Earl of Elgin, the British Post-office endeavoured 
 to form conventions with foreign countries, the object in all 
 cases being the increase of postal facilities. In the case of 
 Spain and Portugal, the authorities seem to have been suc- 
 
 1 A gentleman connected with a Manchester hanking company writes to us 
 to dispute, with great show of reason, the position here taken up. We are 
 free to admit, from one or two instances which he gives, that the rule operated 
 exceedingly ill to his business. No measure, however, should be judged by 
 singular and exceptional occurrences. 
 
England and the United States. 241 
 
 cessful, and partially so with the German Postal Union. An 
 attempt to renew negotiations with the United States calls for 
 mention here. The advocates of ocean penny postage (of which 
 so much was heard some years previously not only a desirable, 
 but a practicable scheme) may thus obtain some idea of the 
 difficulty of coming to any reasonable arrangement between the 
 two countries. We have already stated that a former Post- 
 master-General urged upon the Government of the United States 
 the necessity of reduction in the rates of postage of letters circu- 
 lating from one country to the other, but was unsuccessful at 
 the time. 1 In 1859, the Postmaster-General of the United 
 States (Mr. Holt) communicated to the English Department 
 his concurrence in the principle of a reduction in the postage of 
 British letters from twenty-four to twelve cents, providing that 
 England would give America the lion's share of the proposed 
 postage ! The United States' Government would agree to the 
 change provided the new rate be apportioned as follows, viz. 
 
 United States' Inland Postage 3 cents. 
 
 Sea Rate of Postage 7 
 
 British Inland Postage 2 
 
 The Earl of Elgin objected to this proposal as not equitable. 
 He argued, with perfect truth and fairness, that each country 
 ought to be remunerated according to the value of the service it 
 rendered, and that, whether the inland service was considered 
 (where the three items of collection, conveyance, 2 and delivery 
 must be taken into account), or the sea service (undoubtedly 
 better worked and regulated with us than in America), this 
 country had a fair claim to a larger share of postage than the 
 
 1 During the progress of one of these negotiations the following memoran- 
 dum, written by Mr. Bancroft, American Minister, is so characteristic of his 
 people that we are tempted to amuse our readers with its reproduction entire. 
 Postmaster-General's First Report, Appendix, p. 83. " Approved as far as 
 ' the rate for sea.' What follows is superfluous and objectionable. Make 
 your rates (England) to your colonies and possessions, and foreign countries, 
 what you please, high or low, one sea-rate or a dozen, or none at all ; one 
 inland rate or a dozen, or none at all. What your people pay we are willing 
 to pay, but not more, and vice versa. Our security is, that we pay what your 
 people pay from the same place for the same benefit, and vice versa." 
 
 2 In America letters are certainly carried much greater distances, at the 
 uniform charge of three cents, than with us for a penny; but it must be 
 borne in mind that there are no official deliveries of letters in the United 
 States. 
 
242 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 United States. As, however, an unrestricted intercourse be- 
 tween the two countries was far more important than a nice 
 adjustment in the division of the postage, the English Post- 
 master-General would only press for equality, and proposed the 
 following : 
 
 British Inland Postage . . \d. or 2 cents. 
 
 Sea Postage 4<d. 8 
 
 United States' Inland Postage Id. 2 
 
 M. 12 
 
 In the event of the American Government not being prepared 
 to agree, Lord Elgin proposed that a disinterested third party 
 should be called in, to whom the whole matter might be 
 amicably referred. To this communication no answer what- 
 ever was returned, and the English Department had to wait 
 until the next report of the United States' Post-office was 
 published, in order to ascertain how the proposals had been 
 received. It was found that Mr. Holt there complained that a 
 reasonable offer that he hagl made to England had been declined 
 there, " and for reasons so unsatisfactory, that for the present no 
 disposition is felt to pursue the matter further." It is sincerely 
 to be regretted that this great improvement, which would have 
 been gladly hailed by thousands on both sides of the Atlantic, 
 should have been so arrested, and especially that the United 
 States' Government should have been deaf to the proposition to 
 send the matter to arbitrament. Unquestionably, the present 
 results, as well as the responsibility of future exertion, lies at 
 the door of the United States ; and it is to be hoped that, in 
 justice to the thousands whom the Americans have eagerly 
 invited to populate their country not to mention other con- 
 siderations they will soon renew their efforts to obtain the 
 boon of a sixpenny postage, and be prepared to meet the mother- 
 country on reasonable grounds. 
 
 The postal service with Ireland being considered deficient, so 
 much so, that frequent mention was made of the subject in the 
 House of Commons, a new and special service was brought into 
 operation on the 1st of October, 1860. Night and day mail- 
 trains have, on and from that date, been run specially from 
 
. Expressing a Mail. 243 
 
 Euston Square Station to Holyhead, and special mail steamers 
 employed, at enormous expense, to cross the Channel. Letter- 
 sorting is carried on not only in the trains, but on board the 
 packets ; nearly all the Post-office work, including the prepara- 
 tion of the letters for immediate delivery at London and Dublin 
 respectively, being accomplished on the journey between London 
 and Dublin, and vice versd a journey which is now accomplished 
 in about twelve hours. By means of this new service, a great 
 saving of time is also effected on the arrival and departure of 
 most of the American and Canadian mails. It cannot but be 
 interesting to the reader who may have followed us as we have 
 endeavoured to trace the progress of post communication in this 
 country, to know how much is really possible under the improved 
 facilities of our own day. A better instance could not be afforded 
 than that occurring in the year 1862, when the important news 
 on which depended peace or war was hourly expected from the 
 United States. Before the packet was due, the present indefati- 
 gable Inspector-General of Mails took steps to expedite the new 
 Irish mail service, to the greatest possible extent, in its passage 
 from Queenstown to London, and the result is so clearly and 
 accurately given in the Times of the 8th of January, 1862, that 
 we cannot do better than quote the account entire : 
 
 " The arrangements for expressing the American mails through- 
 out from Queenstown to London, which we described as being so 
 successfully executed with the mails brought by the Africa last 
 week, have been repeated with still more satisfactory results in 
 the case of the mails brought by the Europa. These results are 
 so exceptional that we record them in detail. The Europa 
 arrived off Queenstown, about five miles from the pier, at 9 P.M. 
 on Monday night. Her mails and the despatches from Lord 
 Lyons were placed on board the small tender in waiting, and 
 arrived at the Queenstown pier at 10.5 P.M. at which point they 
 were transferred to an express steamboat for conveyance by river 
 to Cork. Leaving Queenstown pier at 10.10 P.M. they arrived 
 alongside the quay at Cork at 11.15 P.M. and thirteen minutes 
 afterwards the special train left the Cork station for Dublin, 
 accomplishing the journey to Dublin (166 miles) in four hours 
 and three minutes, i.e. at a speed of about 41 miles an hour, 
 including stoppages. The transmission through the streets 
 R 2 
 
244 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 between the railway termini in Dublin and by special train to 
 Kingstown occupied only thirty-six minutes, and in four minutes 
 more the special mail-boat Ulster was on her way to Holyhead. 
 The distance across the Irish Channel, about sixty-six statute 
 miles, was performed by the Ulster, against a contrary tide and 
 heavy sea, in three hours and forty-seven minutes, giving a speed 
 of about seventeen and a half miles an hour. The special train, 
 which had been in waiting for about forty-eight hours, left the 
 Holyhead Station at 8.13 A.M. and it was from this point that 
 the most remarkable part of this rapid express commenced. 
 The run from Holyhead to Stafford, 130^ miles, occupied only 
 145 minutes, being at the rate of no less than fifty-four miles 
 an hour ; and although so high a speed was judiciously not 
 attempted over the more crowded portion of the line from 
 Stafford to London, the whole distance from Holyhead to Euston, 
 264 miles, was performed by the London and North- Western 
 Company in exactly five hours, or at a speed of about 52| miles 
 an hour, a speed unparalleled over so long a line, crowded with 
 ordinary traffic. The entire distance from Queenstown pier to 
 Euston Square, about 515 miles, was thus traversed in fifteen 
 hours and three minutes, or at an average speed of about thirty- 
 four and a quarter miles an hour, including all delays necessary 
 for the several transfers of the mails from boat to railway, or 
 vice versd. . . . By means of the invention for supplying the 
 tender with water from a trough in transitu, the engine was 
 enabled to run its first stage of 130J miles, from Holyhead to 
 Stafford, without stopping." 
 
 During the session of 1860-1, an Act was passed through 
 Parliament for the establishment of Post-Office Savings' Banks 
 on a plan originally proposed by Mr Sykes, of Huddersfield. 
 
 In order to encourage the registration of letters containing 
 coin or valuable articles, the registration fee was reduced, in 
 1862, from 6d to 4d. each letter. At the same time, the plan 
 of compulsory registration of letters was revived, and applied to 
 all letters passing through the London Office, which contained, or 
 were supposed to contain, coin. In 1863, the plan was found to 
 have been so successful in its results, that it was extended to all 
 inland letters. The public may judge of the benefits and bless- 
 ings of this prescriptive measure to the officers of the Post- 
 
The Postal Congress. 245 
 
 office at any rate when we state that the convictions for 
 letter-stealing, since the plan was fully adopted, have been 
 reduced more than ninety per cent. 1 
 
 In 1862, the Pneumatic Conveyance Company set up a branch 
 of their operations at the Euston Square Station, London. The 
 Post-office took advantage of this new mode of conveyance to 
 send the mail-bags to the North- Western District Office from 
 this important railway terminus. The work is, of course, ac- 
 complished with marvellous expedition. The machinery for 
 other localities is in course of construction, and may ultimately 
 extend all over the metropolis, to the supercession, as far as the 
 Post-office is concerned, of the existing mail- vans. 
 
 During the month of May, 1863, a Postal Congress the first 
 of the kind originated, we believe, by Mr. Rasson of the 
 United States, assembled at the Bureau des Pastes, in the Rue 
 Jean Jacques, Paris, under the presidency of the French Post- 
 master-General, M. Vandal. The object of the Congress was 
 " the improvement of postal communication between the principal 
 commercial nations of the world." As we find that the little 
 republic of Ecuador was represented, the postal affairs of little 
 kingdoms were also not overlooked. Each civilized nation was 
 asked to send a delegate, and all the most important States 
 responded. Mr. Frederic Hill, brother of Sir Rowland Hill, 
 and Assistant Secretary, was the English representative; the 
 President represented France ; M. Metzler, Prussia, Mr. 
 Rasson, the United States ; M. Hencke, Hamburg, &c. &c. 
 The prepayment of foreign letters was one of the most difficult 
 subjects discussed. The Congress came to the conclusion that 
 it would be best to leave it optional with the writer of the letter 
 whether the postage should be paid to its destination, or paid 
 on receipt ; in the latter case, however, it was thought desirable 
 that a moderate additional postage should be charged. Another 
 
 1 The number of applications for missing letters containing coin has fallen 
 from about 6,000 to 2,000 a year. The thieves, however, have taken to 
 letters in which stamps are enclosed, and the number of complaints are on the 
 increase. Postage stamps should not be sent in larger quantities than four or 
 five shillings' worth, and even these should be enclosed in strong envelopes. 
 The Post-office authorities are trying many expedients to remedy this state of 
 things. The principle of restrictive sorting, by which arrangements Al ~~ 
 letters in the largest towns go through lewer and well-defined hands isH5" 
 lully carried out, with important results, throughout the country. 
 
246 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 important matter was settled in a conclusive manner. It was 
 first decided that the postage of foreign letters should be regu- 
 lated by weight ; it then became highly necessary, in order to 
 the carrying out of this decision, that the postage should be 
 calculated by a common standard ; hence the following reso- 
 lution, which was agreed to " The metrical decimal system, 
 being of all systems of weighing that which is best suited to the 
 requirements of the postal service, it is expedient to adopt it for 
 the international postal relations, to the exclusion of every other 
 system." Other subjects of lesser importance, such as the route 
 of foreign letters, the division of postage rates, the transmission 
 of coin in letters (which they agreed to allow), were discussed very 
 fully and, we are assured, very amicably. The Congress seems 
 to have arrived at a good understanding of the principles of 
 postal reciprocity, and good may, in time, be the result. The 
 Postal Congress of last year was a Peace Congress of the most 
 efficient kind, and in every sense of the term. 
 
 Within the last ten years the facilities offered to letter- writers 
 by the Post-office have materially increased. Four thousand 
 additional persons have had to be employed in the service, one 
 half, at least, of whom are engaged on account of the facilities 
 and improvements in question, whilst the remainder may be 
 said to have been required by the gradual increase of work in 
 the Establishment. The establishment of mid-day mails, in- 
 creasing the number of daily deliveries in almost every provincial 
 town ; the acceleration of night-mails, allowing more time for 
 posting in some places, and earlier deliveries in all ; the increase 
 in the number of village posts, to the extent of between three 
 and four hundred every year ; the gradual extension of free 
 deliveries ; the establishment of pillar letter-boxes as receptacles 
 for letters ; reductions in the rate of foreign and colonial letters, 
 and also in the registration fee for home letters ; the division of 
 London, and to some extent other large towns, like Liverpool, 
 into districts ; and above all, the establishment of thousands of 
 new savings' banks on safe principles, in connexion with im- 
 proved money-order offices ; are some of the principal facilities 
 to which we refer. The past ten years have been years of great, 
 gradual, and unexampled improvement. Nor is there anything 
 but progress and advancement in prospect. Never at any time 
 
Recent Measures. 247 
 
 in its history were the authorities more alive to the fact that the 
 Post-office is an institution capable of infinite extension and 
 growth, or seem more determined to make it in every respect 
 subserve the best interests of the State. Further, they clearly 
 understand that it belongs to the nation, and that the public 
 have a right to expect the development of the utmost of its 
 utilities. The institution of the Post-office Savings' Banks fully 
 show that the Government and the Post-office authorities are 
 ready to make the most of available resources, thinking little of 
 the fact of their having been originally provided for different 
 purposes, if only they can be made to fit in without impairing 
 the efficiency of the machinery for its principal business. This 
 is so, with regard to the two more recent changes and proposals 
 of 1864. The first is the important Act passed in the last 
 session of Parliament relating to Government Annuities and 
 small Life Insurances, of which we shall speak at greater length 
 in the second section of this volume. This Bill which has 
 been prepared by the same able and indefatigable officers who 
 organized the present system of Post-office Savings' Banks, 
 namely, Mr. Scudamore, the Assistant-Secretary of the Post- 
 office, and Mr. Chetwynd, the present Eeceiver and Accountant- 
 General provides for the Post-office machinery being made 
 available for the ne"w operations. The second measure is the 
 alteration recently made known in the sample and packet post, 
 so as to make it generally acceptable to the mercantile world. 
 This alteration, which not only consists in a reduction of the 
 rates, but in the inclusion of hitherto prohibited articles, can 
 scarcely fail to make the Post-office of still greater utility to the 
 great trading and commercial classes. There are still very strict 
 rules to be attended to, but the exercise of the most ordinary 
 prudence will suffice to protect the public against the infliction 
 of the necessary pains and penalties. It will be observed that 
 in the " sample post " the samples have really to be such as the 
 name implies ; no article can be sent which would make the 
 Post-office common carriers, conveying parcels bought and sold 
 in the ordinary way of trade. Why this should be so, is not 
 clear, except that this post may be looked upon as a preliminary 
 step in the direction of one for small parcels a scheme of Sir 
 Rowland Hill's, which he has left to be carried out by his 
 
248 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 successors. We feel convinced, if under proper regulations as 
 to the character of the goods and the size of the parcels, a 
 parcels' post would be an unspeakable boon, and a scheme to 
 which, we submit, there are no insuperable obstacles. While 
 railway companies might still keep this traffic between the 
 largest towns, the Post-office would have no competitors for 
 that between outlying and rural districts. 
 
PAET II. 
 
 INDUSTRIAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
 POST-OFFICE. 
 
 " It has often struck me that some pains should be taken to make the 
 main features of the Post-office system intelligible to the people." Speech of 
 Sir Rowland Hill at Liverpool, 1847. 
 
 " It may not be too much to say that half the people in this country who 
 use the Post-office do not know clearly all the benefit they may derive from 
 it." Household Words, 1856. 
 
PREFATORY. 
 
 IT is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of the 
 postal regulations of this country. Every section of society, 
 and, to some extent, every individual, participates in the benefits 
 commercial, social, and moral bestowed by our cheap Post- 
 office. It is not our purpose here to urge the value and utility 
 of the Post-office institution which most of our readers grate- 
 fully admit but rather to furnish some general information 
 relative to the organization and ordinary working of the Depart- 
 ment, sensible that an intelligible account of the principal 
 features in the system will increase the interest already felt in 
 the Post-office, as a mighty engine spreading the influences of 
 commerce, education, and religion throughout the world. The 
 Postmaster-General for 1854, in starting an annual report of the 
 Post-office, stated that " many misapprehensions and complaints 
 arise from an imperfect knowledge of matters which might, 
 without any inconvenience, be placed before the public ;" and 
 also, " that the publicity thus given will be an advantage to 
 the Department itself, and will have a good effect upon the 
 working of many of its branches." 
 
 Endeavouring to exclude all matter that is purely technical, 
 and presenting the reader with no more statistical information 
 than is necessary to a proper understanding of the subject, and 
 only premising that this information for the correctness of 
 which we are alone responsible has been carefully collated 
 from a mass of official documents not easily accessible, and 
 others presented to the public from time to time, we will first 
 describe 
 
252 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 THE Post-office being a branch of the public service, instituted 
 by statute, is, of course, under the control of the Government of 
 the country in every respect. The principal Acts of Parliament 
 which now regulate the Postroffice are those of 1 Viet. c. 32 36, 
 entitled "An Act to repeal the several laws relating to the 
 Post-office ;" " An Act for the management of the Post-office ;" 
 " An Act for consolidating the laws relative to offences against 
 the Post-office ; " one to which we have previously referred, 
 2 Viet. c. 98, " An Act to provide for the conveyance of mails 
 by railway ;" 3 & 4 Viet. c. 96, " An Act for the regulation of 
 the duties of Postage." Besides these more important Acts, 
 there are others of later date relating to the Money-order Office, 
 colonial posts, and, more recently, relating to the Post-office 
 Savings' Banks, and Government Insurances and Annuities. 
 
 According to the latest returns, 1 there are 11,316 post-offices 
 in the United Kingdom, of which 808 are head-offices, and 
 10,508 sub-offices. To these must be added a great number of 
 road letter-boxes, making a total of 15,202 public receptacles for 
 letters, or more by 10,000 than the total number before penny 
 postage. The total number of letters passing through the Post- 
 office during the year 1863 was 642,000,000, or,, in the pro- 
 portion of letters to population, no less than 22 to each person 
 in the three kingdoms. As contrasted with the last year of dear 
 postage, the number of letters show an eight-fold increase. 
 
 The gross revenue of the Post-office for the year 1863, was 
 3,874,299?., being more by nearly a quarter of a million sterling 
 than the proceeds for the year 1862. To this sum should be 
 added a further item of 125,156Z. for the impressed stamp on 
 
 1 Postmaster-General's Reports, 1863, 1864;, and Revenue Estimates for 
 1864-5, from which the whole of our statistics are derived. 
 
The Postmaster-General. 253 
 
 newspapers sent through the post, the charges for which are col- 
 lected by the Commissioners for Inland Eevenue. The entire 
 expenses of the Department, including the expenses of mail- 
 packets (which are now all charged against the Post-office, the 
 management of them having been recently transferred from the 
 Board of Admiralty), amounted to 2,956,486?. The net revenue 
 for the year was accordingly 1,042,969?. It ought here to be 
 added, in order that a fair and clear estimate may be formed of 
 the financial success of penny postage, that the item of charges 
 of the mail-packets did not appear against the Post-office in the 
 accounts prior to 1837, and that if they had still been made out 
 in the same manner something like 800,000?. would be added to 
 the available net revenue of the establishment. 1 
 
 At the end of 1864, the staff of officers employed in the 
 British Post-office numbered 25,697. Of this number 25,601 
 were engaged in the British Isles, 74 in foreign countries, and 
 22 in the Colonies. 2 Of the employes at home, between 3,000 
 and 4,000 are attached to the London office alone, while the 
 remainder, including more than 11,000 postmasters, belong to 
 the establishments in the various towns and villages of the 
 United Kingdom. All this large body of officers is under the 
 immediate control of the Postmaster-General and the General 
 Secretaries in London. The service of the three kingdoms, 
 notwithstanding this direct control over the whole, is managed 
 in the respective capitals, at each of which there is a chief 
 office, with a secretarial and other departmental staffs. 
 
 The Postmaster-General, the highest controlling authority at 
 the Post-office, representing the Executive Government, is now 
 always a peer of the realm, 3 a member of the Privy Council, 
 
 1 The gross revenue for 1864 is stated at 4,100,000, an increase of nearly 
 300,000^. on the previous year as ahove given. 
 
 a The colonial Post-offices are not now under the rule of the English 
 Postmaster-General. All appointments to these offices are now made by the 
 Colonial-Secretary if the salary is over 200; if under that sum, by the 
 Governors of the different colonies. 
 
 3 On the 28th March last the question was raised in the House of Com- 
 mons as to the state of the law regulating the appointment of Postmaster- 
 General. This work was then referred to as having laid it down that the Post- 
 master-General must always be a peer, though, it was added, we had assigned 
 no authority for such an arrangement. It will be observed that what we 
 ventured upon saying was simply that it is now always so. We knew of no 
 law by which peers were appointed to the exclusion of commoners ; nay, the 
 
254 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 and generally, though not necessarily, a Cabinet Minister. Of 
 course he changes with the Government. As we have seen in 
 the origin of the office, he holds his appointment by patent 
 granted under the Great Seal. The Postmaster-General has in 
 his gift all the postmasterships in England and Wales, where 
 the salary is not less than 120?. per annum (all under that sum 
 being in the gift of the Treasury Lords), and to those in Ireland 
 and Scotland, where the salary is 100Z. and upwards. Besides 
 this patronage, now dispensed to officers already in the service, 
 he has the power of nomination to all vacancies in the General 
 Post-offices of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and the appoint- 
 ment to all vacancies in staff appointments connected with the 
 three head offices. The following noblemen have occupied the 
 position of Postmaster-General during the last forty years, or 
 since the joint Postmaster-Generalship was abolished in 1823, 1 
 
 case of Lord Frederick Montague, who was Postmaster-General in 1826 under 
 Mr. Canning, and who was only the son of a peer, we knew of as a case in 
 point, proving how the office might be filled up as the Prime Minister saw fit. 
 We share the feeling of Mr. D.Griffith and many more who regard the Act of 
 Queen Anne setting forth that no one appointed to a new office of profit 
 henceforth from that date (1705) should be allowed to sit in the House of 
 Commons, as an unwise and anomalous arrangement. Whether the " grant 
 of Postmaster- General" should have come under the operation of this law is, 
 besides, rather questionable. In 1710 the title of " Postmaster-General of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland," as we find it given in numerous documents 
 before that period was changed to " Postmaster-General of Great Britain," 
 the same officers continuing to serve. In this instance, therefore, it was more 
 the change of name of an old office than the creation of a new one. How- 
 ever it is, few will dispute that if this he the only reason why members of the 
 Lower House are excluded from sharing with members of the House of 
 Lords the responsibilities and emoluments of the office of Postmaster-General, 
 there is every reason for the abrogation of the absurd law which stands in 
 their way. 
 
 1 The following list of Postmasters- General before this period, taken from a 
 return madeto the House of Commons, March 25, 1844, may not be uninterest- 
 ing to some of our readers. After Sir Brian Tuke, the first " Master of the 
 Postes," we find his successors to have been Sir William Paget, one of 
 Henry VIIL's Chief Secretaries of State, and John Mason, Esq. " Secretary 
 for the French Tongue." " The fees or wages" of each of these functionaries 
 are given at 66/. 13*. 6rf. a year. The reader will be familiar with the Post- 
 masters-General under Elizabeth, James I. Charles Land the Commonwealth. 
 Coming to the reign of Charles II. we find Philip Froude, Esq. acting for the 
 Duke of York from 1678 to 1688. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY. 
 
 Sir John Wildman 16881690 
 
 Sir Robert Cotton; Thomas Frankland, Esq. . . . 16901708 
 
 QUEEN ANNE. 
 Sir Thomas Frankland; Sir John Evelyn .... 17081715 
 
The Postmaster- General. 255 
 
 viz. Earl of Chichester (1823), Lord Frederick Montague (1826), 
 Duke of Manchester (1837), Duke of Kichmond (1830), appointed 
 Postmaster-General of Great Britain and Ireland the year after ; 
 Marquis of Conyngham (July, 1834), Lord Maryborough (Dec. 
 1834), Marquis of Conyngham again (May 1835), Earl of 
 Lichfield (June 1835), Viscount Lowther (Sept. 1841), Earl St. 
 Germains (June 1846), Marquis of Clanricarde (July 1846). 
 Still more recently, and in the memory of most of our readers, 
 there have been in the office the Earl of Hardwicke, Viscount 
 Canning, the Duke of Argyll (twice), Lord Colchester, the Earl 
 of Elgin, and, as now, Lord Stanley of Alderley. 
 
 The Secretary of the Post-office holds the highest fixed appoint- 
 ment in the Establishment, and may be regarded, therefore, as 
 the responsible adviser of the Postmaster-General. The principal 
 secretaries during the century have been Francis Freeling, Esq. 
 
 GEORGE I. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis; James Craggs, Esq 17151720 
 
 Edward Carteret, Esq.; Galfridus Walpole . . . 17201733 
 
 GEORGE II. 
 
 Edward Carteret, Esq. ; Lord Thomas Lovel . . . 17331739 
 
 Sir John Eyles; Lord Lovel 17391744 
 
 Lord Lovel alone (now Earl of Leicester) .... 17441759 
 
 Earl of Besborough 1759 
 
 GEORGE III. 
 
 Earl of Egmont; Hon. E. Harapden 1762 
 
 Lord Hyde; Hon. R. Hampden 1763 
 
 Earl of Besborough; Lord Grautham 1765 
 
 Earl of Sandwich; Lord de Spencer 1768 
 
 Viscount Barrington; Hon. Henry Carteret . . . 1782 
 
 Earl of Tankerville; Hon. H. Carteret 178* 
 
 Lord Carteret; Lord Walsingham 1787 
 
 Lord Walsingham; Earl of Westmoreland . . . . 1789 
 
 Lord Walsingham; Earl of Chesterfield 1790 
 
 Earl of Chesterfield; Earl of Leicester 1794 
 
 Earl of Leicester; Lord Auckland 1798 
 
 Lord Auckland ; Lord Gower 1799 
 
 Lord Auckland; Lord C. Spencer 1801 
 
 Lord Spencer; Duke of Montrose 1804 
 
 Earl of Buckinghamshire; Earl of Carysfort . . . 1806 
 
 Earl of Sandwich; Earl of Chichester 1807 
 
 Earl' of Chichester 1814 
 
 Earl of Chichester; Earl of Clancarty 1814- 
 
 Earl of Chichester; Earl of Salisbury 3816 
 
 When the Earl of Salisbury died in 1823 a successor was not appointed, 
 
 the joint office being abolished principally through the exertions of the late 
 
 Marquis of Normauby. 
 
256 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 (1797), created a baronet in 1828 -, 1 Lieut.-Colonel William 
 Leader Maberly (1836) ; Bowland Hill, Esq. (1856), a kind of 
 joint secretary with Colonel Maberly since 1847, knighted in 
 1860; and, now, John Tilley, Esq. a highly esteemed and 
 able public servant, who had previously filled the office of 
 Assistant-Secretary. There are also now two Assistant-Secre- 
 taries, Frederic Hill, Esq. and Frank Ives Scudamore, Esq. 
 
 The chief office in London is divided into six principal depart- 
 ments, each under the charge of a chief officer. These heads of 
 departments are severally responsible to the Postmaster-General 
 for the efficiency of their respective branches, including the 
 discipline of all their officers. Something like the same arrange- 
 ment, though on a much smaller scale, is preserved in the less 
 important chief offices of Dublin and Edinburgh. The branches 
 in question consist of (1) the Secretary's Office ; (2) the Solicitor's 
 Office ; (3) the Mail Office ; (4) the Receiver and Accountant- 
 General's Office; (5) the Money Order Office; and (6) the Cir- 
 culation Office. 
 
 I. The Secretary's Office exercises a general supervising and 
 controlling power over all the other departments of the Post- 
 office, including of course, all provincial offices. It is the medium 
 of communication with the Government through the Lords of 
 the Treasury, and all correspondence with the public on any 
 the arrangements of any of the branches is here carried on. In 
 1764 the Secretary of the Post-office had an assistant, one clerk, 
 and two supernumerary clerks assigned to him. Now the three 
 Secretaries are assisted in their duties by one chief clerk, one 
 principal clerk for foreign and colonial business, fifteen senior 
 clerks, and about sixty clerks in different classes. There is also 
 a force of five official paper keepers, and nineteen messengers. 
 
 II. The Solicitor's Office, as its name implies, deals with the 
 law business of the Post-office. It gives employment to a 
 solicitor, an assistant solicitor, and four clerks. 
 
 III. The Mail Office is the department to which is entrusted 
 the organization and supervision of the principal inland mail 
 services of the kingdom. These services now consist almost 
 
 1 Mr. Freeling had previously been Under-Secretary to Mr. Todd, who 
 succeeded Mr. Shehocke as Secretary in 1762. The office of Secretary grew 
 rapidly in importance after the appointment of Mr. Todd, 
 
The Six Departments. 257 
 
 exclusively of those connected with the railway system, the mail 
 coaches which used to be regulated and controlled in this branch 
 having now, except on a few lines in Scotland and Ireland, 
 ceased to exist. The staff of the Mail Office comprises an 
 Inspector- General of Mails, a deputy Inspector-General, two 
 principal clerks, and twenty-one clerks in three classes. The 
 connexion between the Mail Office in London, and its im- 
 portant adjuncts, the travelling post-offices, which are all under 
 its management, is kept up by a staff of five inspectors of mails 
 (three employed in England, one in Ireland, and one in Scot- 
 land), a supervisor of mail-bag apparatus, and several subordinate 
 inspecting officers. The Eailway Post-office, or the " Travelling 
 Branch," as it is now designated, employs a force of fifty-two 
 clerks in three classes, and one hundred and thirty-nine sorters 
 in three classes. That fine body of men, of whom we have 
 already spoken, the race of old mail guards, has gradually 
 diminished in number ; the duties which they performed having 
 to a great extent become merged in the duties of the travelling 
 sorters. The entire number, of mail guards in the United King- 
 dom, which before the introduction of railways was as many as 
 353, does not now exceed 86. 
 
 IV. The Receiver and Accountant-General's Office takes account 
 of the money of each department, remittances being received here 
 from all the other branches and each provincial town in England. 
 Here general accounts of revenue and expenditure are kept, this 
 office being charged with the examination of the postage and 
 revenue accounts of each postmaster. All salaries, pensions, and 
 items of current expenditure are also paid through this office. In 
 1764, these duties were performed by a Receiver-General assisted 
 by four clerks. Afterwards a principal Accountant was appointed 
 with a separate staff. The two offices were amalgamated some 
 years ago. The present appointments comprise a receiver and 
 accountant-general, a chief examiner, cashier, a principal book- 
 keeper, with forty-eight clerks in three classes, and nine 
 messengers. 
 
 V. The Money-order Office, occupying a separate building in 
 Aldersgate Street, takes charge of the money-order business of 
 the country in addition to doing a great amount of work as 
 the principal money-order office for the metropolis. Of course, 
 
 s 
 
258 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 everything relating to this particular branch of Post-office 
 business, and also some part of the Savings' Bank accounts, 
 pass through this channel. Each provincial postmaster sends 
 a daily account of his money-order transactions to this office. 
 Attached to the Money-order Office we find a controller, a chief 
 clerk, an examiner, a bookkeeper, and 127 clerks in three 
 classes, and 27 messengers. 
 
 VI. The Circulation Office in London manages the vast bulk 
 of the ordinary postal work of the metropolis. In it, or from 
 it, nearly all the letters, newspapers, and book-packets posted 
 at, or arriving in London, are sorted, despatched, or delivered. 
 Not only so, but in this branch nearly all the continental, and 
 most part of the other foreign mails for the whole of the British 
 islands, are received, sorted, and despatched. Most of the 
 foreign mails are also made up in the foreign department of 
 the Circulation Office. Under ordinary circumstances, more- 
 over, British or inland letters for a great number of places are 
 sent in transit through London, where it is requisite they should 
 be re-arranged and forwarded. This daily herculean labour is 
 performed by the clerks, sorters, and letter-carriers attached to 
 this department. The ten district offices in London, engaged 
 with the same kind of work on a small scale, are auxiliary and 
 subordinate to the Circulation Office at the General Post-office. 
 The principal branches into which the Circulation Office may be 
 said to be divided, are the Inland Office for the arrangement 
 of letters going into, or coming from the provinces, the District 
 Office for London letters, the Foreign Branch, the Eegistered 
 Letter Branch, employing no less than fifty clerks, and the 
 Eeturned Letter Branch about an equal number. The major 
 branch of the Circulation Office comprises the controller, a vice- 
 controller, 3 sub-controllers, 16 assistant controllers, and 252 
 clerks in three classes. The minor establishment, as it is called, 
 employs no fewer than 2,398 persons. In this force are included 
 42 inspectors of letter-carriers in three classes ; the rest, being 
 composed of sorters, stampers, letter-carriers, and messengers. 
 
 To these six principal departments may now be added that 
 for the management of the Post-office Savings' Banks. Like the 
 Money-order Office, it occupies a separate building, situated in 
 St. Paul's Churchyard. The Savings' Bank department keeps a 
 
Post-office Library. 259 
 
 personal account with every depositor. It acknowledges the 
 receipt of every single deposit, and upon the requisite notice 
 being furnished to the office, it sends out warrants authorizing 
 postmasters to pay withdrawals. Each year the savings' bank 
 book of each depositor is sent here for examination, and at the 
 same time the interest accruing is calculated and allowed. The 
 correspondence with postmasters and the public on any subject 
 connected with the banks in question is managed entirely by 
 this department. The already existing machinery of the Post- 
 office has been freely called into operation, and the business 
 of the postal banks has increased the work of at least three of 
 the other branches. In the Eeceiver and Accountant-General's 
 Office all the investments are received, and all remittances to 
 postmasters for the repayment of deposits are made, while the 
 surplus revenue goes from this office direct to that of the Com- 
 missioners for the Keduction of the National Debt. Again, the 
 Money-order Office is required to undertake the examination 
 of the general savings' bank accounts of each postmaster. At 
 present, the staff of the Savings' Bank Office comprises a con- 
 troller, an assistant controller, a principal clerk, forty-eight 
 clerks in three classes, and six messengers. There are besides 
 many " temporary " clerks. 
 
 The branches of minor importance 1 and the miscellaneous 
 officers of the London establishment consist of a Medical Depart- 
 ment with a medical officer, one assistant, and one messenger 
 attached. There are, besides, distinct medical officers for each 
 
 1 The Post-office Library and Literary Association almost deserves a place 
 among the minor branches of the London establishment. This institution 
 was formed in 1858, and is now very useful and flourishing. There had pre- 
 viously been a small library attached to one of the minor branches, but in 
 the above year it was decided to establish one on a larger and broader basis, 
 to include the higher officers and clerks in all the departments. After doing 
 all they could themselves (and we miss no prominent official name among the 
 very liberal donors of money and books on the occasion), the promoters 
 appealed to the public and met with many cordial and handsome responses. 
 The late Prince Consort sent the sum of 501., and the Postmaster-General 
 (Lord Colchester) gave 25. Many well-known names in the world of litera- 
 ture and many of the London publishers sent books. The newspaper agents, 
 Messrs. Smith and Son, sent three hundred volumes with the message that 
 "the Post-office does so much for us and does it so well, that we feel it a 
 privilege to take part in this undertaking." This institution, of which Mr. 
 Chetwynd is the obliging and valued Honorary Secretary, occupies two rooms, 
 a library and reading room, in St. Martin' s-le-Grand. 
 
 S 2 
 
260 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 of the London districts. The amount required for this sendee 
 for 1864-5, including medicine (given gratuitously to all officers 
 who are not in receipt of 150L yearly salary) is 1,722Z. A 
 Housekeeper's Department, including a housekeeper and sixteen 
 female servants, requiring a yearly payment of 733Z. Six engi- 
 neers, ten constables, and six firemen, are also constantly 
 employed and paid by the Post-office. When we add to this 
 gigantic organization no less than 512 letter-receivers in London, 
 who receive from 41. to 90Z. a year for partial services, the reader 
 will have a tolerably correct idea of the establishment required 
 to compass the amount of London postal business in the twenty- 
 fifth year of penny postage. 1 
 
 The Surveyor's Department is the connecting medium between 
 the metropolitan offices and the post-offices in provincial towns. 
 The postmasters of the latter are under the immediate super- 
 vision of the surveyor of the district in which the towns are 
 situate, and it is to this superior officer that they are primarily 
 responsible for the efficient working and discipline of their 
 respective staff of officers. Among the many responsible duties 
 of the surveyors, may be mentioned 2 those of visiting period- 
 ically each office in their district, to remedy, where they can, all 
 defects in the working of the postal system ; to remove, when 
 possible, all just grounds of complaint on the part of the public ; 
 "to give to the correspondence of their district increased 
 celerity, regularity, and security " when opportunity offers, and 
 to arrange for contracts with these objects. The Act of Queen 
 Anne provided for the appointment of one surveyor to the Post- 
 office, whose duties it should be to make proper surveys of 
 post-roads. Little more than a hundred years ago, one of these 
 functionaries was sufficient to compass the duty of surveyor in 
 England. There are now thirteen surveyors in the United 
 Kingdom, nine of whom are located in England, two in Ireland, 
 and two in Scotland. These principal officers are assisted in 
 their duties by thirty-two " surveyors' clerks," arranged in two 
 
 1 Large as this staff undoubtedly is, it would have been larger but for 
 several timely changes in the modes of operation, principally in the system 
 of keeping accounts. In 1855 the Civil Service Commissioners suggested 
 various improvements in the organization of the Post-office, which resulted in 
 a decrease of the officers attached to some of the branches. 
 
 2 Postmaster-General's Second Report. 
 
Provincial Post-offices. 261 
 
 classes, and thirteen stationary clerks. To this staff must also 
 be added thirty-three " clerks in charge," in two classes, who 
 are under the direction of the surveyors, and whose principal 
 duty consists in supplying temporarily the position of post- 
 master, in case of vacancies occurring through deaths, re- 
 movals, &c. 
 
 There are, in all, 542 head provincial establishments in 
 England and Wales, 141 in Ireland, and 115 in Scotland. 
 They vary exceedingly, no two being exactly alike, but are 
 settled in each town pretty much in proportion to the demands 
 of the place, its size, trade, &c. Sometimes, however, the 
 position of a town the centre of a district, for instance gives 
 it more importance in an official sense than it would acquire 
 from other and ordinary circumstances. The number of sub- 
 offices attached to each town also varies greatly, according to 
 the position of the head-office. 1 Next to the three chief offices, 
 the largest establishments are those of Liverpool, Manchester, 
 Glasgow, Birmingham, and Bristol. Among the most important 
 offices of the second class, we may enumerate Aberdeen, Bath, 
 Belfast, Cork, Exeter, Leeds, Hull, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Nor- 
 wich, Sheffield, Southampton, and York. With respect to the 
 rest, classification would be difficult ; the postmasters receiving 
 salaries ranging from 20Z. to 4001. per annum, and varying 
 from those where the whole of the duty of the office is performed 
 by the postmaster himself, to others where he is assisted by a 
 large staff of clerks and other auxiliaries. 2 
 
 1 Head-office is the official term given to the independent post-towns, and 
 such as are only subordinate to one of the three metropolitan offices. Sub- 
 offices are, of course, under the head-offices. Receiving-offices, at which letters 
 are received, but not delivered, are also under the authority of the head-office 
 of the neighbourhood. Those post-offices at which money-orders are issued 
 and paid are designated Money-order Offices, and include all the head-offices 
 and a large number of sub-offices, and a few receiving-offices. Packet-offices, 
 are those at which the regular mail-packets (ship-letters may be received or 
 despatched at any port) are received and from which they are despatched. 
 London and Southampton are packet offices for the Continental Mails, the 
 East and West Indies, and Soutii America. Liverpool and Queenstown take 
 the United States and Canada. The mail-packets for the Cape of Good Hope 
 and the West Coast of Africa sail to and from Devonport. 
 
 2 The staff of the largest provincial offices usually consists of clerks, 
 sorters, stampers, messengers, letter-carriers, and rural post-messengers. The 
 clerks are now principally engaged on clerical duties, attending to the public 
 on money-order business, &c. or in connexion with registered letters or unpaid- 
 
262 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Each head-postmaster is directly responsible for the full 
 efficiency and proper management of his office. Under the 
 approval of the district surveyor, the sanction of the Postmaster- 
 General, and the favourable report of the Civil Service Com- 
 missioners, the postmaster is allowed to appoint nearly the 
 whole of his own officers, he being responsible to the authorities 
 for their proper discipline and good conduct. Formerly, and 
 up to as late as eight years ago, each postmaster rendered an 
 account of his transactions to the chief office quarterly. He 
 now furnishes monthly accounts, weekly general accounts, and 
 daily accounts of money-order business, besides keeping his books 
 open to the inspection of the superior officers of the Post-office. 1 
 
 letter accounts. In offices where the staff is smaller, the clerks also engage 
 in sorting and despatching letters. In many small country towns females are 
 employed as clerks. The sorters are principally engaged in sorting duties. 
 Stampers and messengers do duties such as their designations denote. Letter- 
 carriers the familiar "postmen" of every household are almost exclusively 
 engaged in delivering letters, &c. from door to door. Auxiliary letter-carriers 
 are those only partially so employed, principally on the largest, or early morn- 
 ing delivery. Rural post-messengers is tlie official name for " country post- 
 men," who make daily journeys among the villages and hamlets surrounding 
 each town, delivering and taking up letters on their way. 
 
 1 For fuller information on this head, see Appendix, to the Postmaster- 
 General's First Report, pp. 71-4- The following forms part of a later docu- 
 ment (Ninth Report, 1 862-3), and is interesting enough to be quoted entire : 
 " Owing to the successful measures which the Department has adopted by 
 means of bonds, frequent supervision, and care in the selection of persons 
 admitted into the service, and afterwards promoted therein, very few losses 
 have occurred, of late years at least, through defalcation. More than twenty 
 years ago, however, a postmaster who owed the office 2,000/., but who had 
 given security for only a part of that sum, absconded, leaving an unpaid debt 
 of upwards of 1,0001. The recovery of the debt had long been considered 
 hopeless, but a short time ago a letter was unexpectedly received from the 
 postmaster's son enclosing a remittance in payment of part of his father's debt, 
 and expressing a hope that after a time he should be able to pay the remainder 
 a hope which was soon realized, every farthing of the debt having now been 
 discharged, in a manner most creditable to the gentleman concerned." 
 
Outside the General Post-office. 263 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 ON THE CIRCULATION OF LETTERS. 
 
 IN order to give our readers a proper idea of the channel 
 through which their correspondence flows the circulation of 
 letters in the Post-office system it will be necessary to devote 
 a long chapter to the subject. We therefore propose to post an 
 imaginary letter in the metropolis for a village in the far away 
 North, following it from its place of posting till we finally see it 
 deposited in the hands of the person to whom it is addressed. 
 As in this way we hope to describe the different agencies 
 employed to compass the postal work, we will begin with 
 
 THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE. 
 
 The General Post-office, the great heart of the English postal 
 system, is a fine building, of immense size and capability. 
 Large as it was thought when originally constructed, many 
 expedients have been resorted to to secure the requisite con- 
 venience for the performance of the ever-increasing work. Thus 
 in 1831, an additional room was made by constructing, upon 
 iron cantilevers, a gallery half-way between the floor and the roof 
 of a part of the principal sorting hall. In 1836, the suite of 
 rooms occupied by the secretary was taken for sorting operations, 
 that functionary removing upstairs. A few years afterwards the 
 Money-order Branch removed to a new building in Aldersgate 
 Street. At the penny-post era another additional apartment 
 was contrived inside the building, while the opening out of the 
 district offices in London fifteen years afterwards gave increased 
 space to the workers at St. Martin's-le-Grand. It is now pro- 
 posed to build opposite the present structure to give accommo- 
 dation to the new agencies called into operation in connexion 
 with the Post-office ; and preliminary steps have already been 
 taken in the matter. 
 
264 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Approaching the great hall of the General Post-office through 
 one of the three-columned porticos, we post our letter, and as it 
 is now nearly six o'clock P.M. we stand aside for a few minutes 
 only, to witness one of the most stirring sights in the metropolis. 
 Throughout the day, both sides of the hall present a busy 
 enough scene. To the right hand is the paste restante, and the 
 mart for postage-stamps, with its constant influx of visitors ; 
 while on the opposite side, always open, and, more or less, always 
 beset with people, are the newspaper and letter-boxes for the 
 receipt of correspondence for all parts of the world. When a 
 quarter to six chimes from the neighbouring clocks, the change 
 in the appearance of the hall is most striking. As if it had been 
 waiting for the opportunity to pass some hidden barrier, an 
 impetuous crowd suddenly enters, and letters and newspapers at 
 once begin to fall in quite a literary hail-storm. The huge slits 
 running from one end of the hall to the other, which have been 
 gaping for letters all the day, must now be widened, or the 
 consequences would undoubtedly be serious among the hurrying 
 crowd of people. Just at this period the windows over the 
 newspaper-boxes used to be thrown open, and newspapers and 
 bags were hurled with great force, and sometimes fury, into the 
 sorting-room on the same floor. Now a capacious shoot is 
 thrown wide open, which carries the newspapers deposited in 
 it to a room underneath. This immense aperture no sooner 
 opens its maw than it is surrounded and besieged by men and 
 boys of all ages and costumes alike pushing, heaving, and 
 surging in one great mass, who seek to feed the thing with 
 heaps of papers, which fly thicker and faster than the driven 
 snow. Now it is that small boys of eleven or twelve years of 
 age panting Sinbad-like under the weight of huge bundles of 
 newspapers manage somehow to dart about and make rapid 
 sorties into other ranks of boys, utterly disregarding the cries 
 of the official policemen, who vainly endeavour to reduce the 
 tumult into something like post-office order. If the lads cannot 
 quietly and easily disembogue, they will whiz their missiles of 
 intelligence over other people's heads, now and then sweeping off 
 hats and caps with the force of shot. The gathering every 
 moment increases in number and intensifies in purpose, and yet 
 the cry is still they come. Heaps of papers of widely-opposed 
 
Inside the Office. 265 
 
 political views are thrown in together, and what a stomach the 
 Post-office monster must have to take in all ! No longer sent 
 in singly or by handfuls, they throw their distended sacks and 
 baskets through the opening wholesale. Some official legends, 
 with a very strong smack of probability about them, tell of 
 sundry boys being offered, seized, emptied, and thrown out 
 again void. As six o'clock approaches still nearer and nearer, 
 the turmoil increases more perceptibly, for the intelligent British 
 public is fully alive to the awful truth that the Post-office 
 officials never allow a minute of grace, and that "newspaper 
 fair " must be over when the last stroke of six is heard. One, in 
 rush files of laggard boys, who have purposely loitered, in the 
 hope of a little pleasurable excitement ; two, and grown men 
 hurry in with their last sacks ; three, the struggle resembles 
 nothing so much as a pantomimic melee ; four, a very Babel of 
 tongues ; five, final and furious shower of papers and bags ; and 
 six, when all the openings and slits close like so many swords of 
 Damocles, and with such a sudden and simultaneous snap, that 
 we naturally suppose it to be a part of the Post-office operations 
 that attempts should be made to guillotine a score of hands ; 
 and then all is over so far as the outsiders are concerned. 
 Among the letter-boxes, scenes somewhat similar have been 
 enacted, but we were too engrossed with the scene in the news- 
 paper corner to notice them. Besides, we shall see the letters 
 inside. The Post-office, like a huge monster, to which it has 
 been more than once likened, has swallowed an enormous meal, 
 and gorged to the full, it must now commence the process of 
 digestion. While laggard boys to whom cartoons by one William 
 Hogarth should be shown, are muttering " too late," and retiring 
 discomfited, we, having obtained the requisite " open sesame," 
 will make our way round the corner into the interior of the 
 building. 
 
 We take the letter-rooms first. This part consists of an enor- 
 mous apartment, well lit up, with long rows of double desks 
 running from end to end, and one or two smaller rooms adjoining. 
 We go to the end of itr, which is close to the letter-boxes, to 
 observe the first processes. Letters are still being posted in 
 great numbers, for we distinctly hear them fluttering, flapping, 
 and flopping in the box, even above the noise caused by the 
 
266 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 different operations. On inquiry, we find that the public are 
 posting letters with an extra stamp, in order that they may go 
 with the mail which is now making up, and the number of these 
 missives quite equals the whole number of letters posted daily 
 in many a provincial town. After the ordinary letters are taken 
 from the boxes, they are thrown on to a huge table, round which 
 stand at least a dozen men, who are busy at work, much as if they 
 were shuffling cards, but actually in the operation of placing each 
 letter side by side with the address, and the postage-label upper- 
 most, so that they may be easily struck with the stamp, and 
 keeping all packets, parcels, and unpaid letters to themselves. 
 We shall have no better opportunity throughout our entire 
 Post-office progress than the present, whilst standing beside 
 this table, to observe the letters with which the Post-office is 
 entrusted. And the first thing which will strike an observer 
 placed in such circumstances is, that the Post-office is eminently 
 a democratic establishment, conducted on the most approved 
 fraternite et egalite principles. The same sort of variety that 
 marks society here marks its letters ; envelopes of all shades and 
 sizes ; handwriting of all imaginable kinds, written in all shades 
 of ink, with every description of pen ; names the oddest, and 
 names the most ordinary, and patronymics to which no possible 
 exception can be taken. Then to notice the seals. Here is one 
 stamped with the escutcheoned signet of an earl ; another where 
 the wax has yielded submissively to the initials of plain John 
 Brown ; and yet another, plastered with cobbler's wax, with an 
 impression that makes no figure in Burke or Debrett, but which, 
 indeed, bears many evidences of having been manufactured with 
 hob-nails. So much for the outsides. If we could but get a 
 peep, what a much greater variety within ! Here, without doubt, 
 are tidings of life and death, hope and despair, success and 
 failure, triumph and defeat, joy and sorrow ; letters from friends, 
 and notes from lawyers, appeals from children and stern advice 
 or remonstrance from parents, offers from anxious-hearted young 
 gentlemen, and " first yesses " or refusals from young maidens ; 
 letters containing that snug appointment so long promised, and 
 " little bills " with requests for immediate payment, " together 
 with six-and-eightpence." Here are cream-coloured missives, 
 which will doubtless be found to tell of happy consummations, 
 
Unpaid Letters. 267 
 
 and black-edged envelopes which will still more certainly tell of 
 death and the grave ; sober-looking advice-notes, doubtless 
 telling when our " Mr. Puffwell " will " do himself the honour 
 of calling " upon you, and elegant-looking billets in which 
 " shocking business " is never mentioned, are here all jostling 
 each other quite contentedly, and will do so for many hours. 
 
 After the operation of " facing " the letters is completed, they 
 are taken to the stamping-tables to be stamped ; where all, with- 
 out exception, are honoured with the selfsame knocks on the 
 head, an operation which results in the imprinting upon each 
 the date, hour, and place of posting, as well as the total dis- 
 figurement of the postage-stamp. The operation of stamping at 
 the General Post-office gives employment to about a dozen men 
 at once, part of whom stamp by hand and part by machinery. 
 Each can manage to strike, on an average, about one hundred 
 letters per minute. 1 Unpaid letters are kept apart, as they 
 require stamping in a different coloured ink, and with the 
 double postage. Such letters, we may here interpolate, create 
 much extra labour, and are a source of incessant trouble to the 
 department, inasmuch as from the time of their posting in 
 London to their delivery at the Land's End or John O'Groats, 
 every officer through whose hands they may pass has to keep a 
 cash account of them. The double postage on such letters is 
 more than earned by the Post-office. All unfastened and torn 
 letters, too, are picked out, and conveyed to another portion of 
 the large room, and it requires the unremitting attention of at 
 least one busy individual to finish the work left undone by the 
 British public. It is scarcely credible that about 250 letters 
 daily are posted open, and bearing not the slightest mark of ever 
 having been fastened in any way ; but such is the fact. It is 
 on record, tha on one occasion a letter containing 2,OOOL in 
 notes and bills was posted at the General Post-office in this 
 state ! A frightful source of extra work to this branch arises 
 through the posting of flimsy boxes, containing feathers, slippers, 
 and other recherche articles of female dress, pill-boxes containing 
 jewellery ; and even bottles, covered over with paper only. The 
 latter, however, are detained, glass articles and sharp instruments 
 of any sort, whenever detected, being returned to the senders. 
 1 The letters are counted as they are struck with the stamp. 
 
268 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 The other frail things, thrown in and buried under the heaps of 
 correspondence, get crushed and broken, yet all are made up 
 again as carefully as possible and resealed. 
 
 When the letters have been stamped, and those insufficiently 
 paid are picked out, they are carried away to undergo the 
 process of sorting. In this operation they are very rapidly 
 divided into " roads," representing a line of large towns all 
 lying in one direction ; thus, letters for Derby, Loughborough, 
 Nottingham, Leicester, and Lincoln, &c. may be placed in com- 
 panionship in one division or " road," and Bilston, Wednesbury, 
 Walsall, Stourbridge, Dudley, &c. in another. When this 
 primary divisional sorting is finished, each mass of letters is 
 conveyed into different parts of the room, to be divided and 
 subdivided over again until in this way all the letters for one 
 town are gathered together. This divisional work is now very 
 much assisted by the employment of district sorting- carriages 
 on some of the principal lines of railways converging in the 
 metropolis. Letters for each of these travelling-carriages are 
 simply sorted once, and are subdivided into towns on the 
 railway. It is into one of these unfinished masses of work that 
 our own letter falls, to be seen again, however when we come to 
 describe the Travelling Post-offices. 
 
 Having witnessed the letter-sorting, even to the tying up of 
 the bundles and the placing of them into their respective bags, 
 we will make our way into the newspaper department, and we 
 have chosen our time well, for at this moment some half-filled 
 bags are about to be sent into an upper story to be completed 
 by getting their quota of newspapers put into them, and we can 
 go with them and save our strength. By a series of " hoists " 
 or lifts, not only baskets and bags, but sorters, letter-carriers, 
 and such strangers as may visit the Office may be most con- 
 veniently transferred from the bottom to the top of the building, 
 and back again very quickly. These lifts, one at each end of 
 the Inland Office, and a smaller one in the foreign department, 
 were suggested by Mr. Bokenham, the present Controller of the 
 Circulation Office, and one of the oldest officers in the establish- 
 ment, and are very ingenious. During office-hours they con- 
 stantly travel up one way, round the top, and down the other 
 shaft with several boxes or platforms (for the men and bags) 
 
Newspaper Room. 269 
 
 circulating very much like the buckets of a dredging- machine. 
 Arrived at the next floor, we step out and find ourselves among 
 huge piles of newspapers, which have been, and still are, under- 
 going the same operations as we noticed in the case of the 
 letters, only everything is on a much larger scale larger desks, 
 larger boxes, larger bags. Most of the newspapers do not 
 require stamping, as the impressed stamp is still largely used. 
 As many of the newspapers escape from their covers during 
 the excitement of posting, each night two or three officers are 
 busily engaged during the whole time of despatch, in endea- 
 vouring to restore wrappers to newspapers found without any 
 address. To illustrate the care taken in all such casualties 
 which might be avoided to a great extent by the public we 
 may state that the addresses of all such newspapers are carefully 
 entered in a large ledger, and the following notice, signed by the 
 Secretary, is put into the newspapers appropriated to stray 
 addresses : 
 
 " Several newspapers having escaped from their covers in the newspaper- 
 office this evening from the imperfect manner in which they were enclosed in 
 them, they have been replaced as correctly as possible; but as the accompany- 
 ing paper may not be the one originally intended for you, I beg to explain, 
 that the inconvenience you may be subjected to has not been occasioned by 
 this department." 
 
 It will be easily understood how sad mistakes may thus occur, 
 and many persons get newspapers very uncongenial to their 
 tastes ; yet it will be at once admitted, that when a certain 
 writer charges the Post-office with " diminished care " in this 
 and other matters, he has not acquainted himself with the steps 
 invariably taken by the authorities to meet such cases. 
 
 We pass rapidly through several other rooms. In one the 
 foreign letters are being sorted, weighed, and packed in the 
 boxes painted in all the colours of the rainbow, according to the 
 country or colony to which they are destined ; in another a 
 score or more of clerks are busy dealing with registered letters, 
 tying them round with tape, entering the addresses in books 
 and on sheets, and then securing them in green cloth bags, 
 which will eventually be placed in the ordinary letter-bags ; in 
 another division of the building letters are being sorted for the 
 metropolis, and letter-carriers are busy arranging them in order 
 
270 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 to their delivery. Having seen all these varied processes we 
 return again to the principal office. It still presents a busy 
 scene, yet retains the utmost order and regularity. Scores 
 of men are engaged in the various operations of sorting and 
 subsorting, yet all proceeds quite noiselessly, as if the thousands 
 of letters representing the commerce and intelligence of the 
 English people could not be treated too carefully. Every now 
 and again the sorter pauses in his rapid movements, and places 
 a letter on one side. In some cases this signifies that he has 
 detected a letter containing a coin of some sort ; and when such 
 letters have been posted without being registered by the sender, 
 the department takes this duty upon itself, not without charge, 
 however, for the consignee must pay a double registration fee 
 upon delivery. The number of letters of this class detected in 
 London alone during the first six months after this plan was 
 brought into operation was upwards of 58,000. The practice 
 which before the arrangement of which we here speak, kept 
 growing on a thoughtless economy, to the temptation and seduc- 
 tion of many of the officers, is now steadily decreasing, and ere 
 long, let us hope, will be unknown. Letters again, which cannot 
 be read, or those imperfectly addressed, are also thrown on one 
 side, and conveyed to another part of the branch, where two or 
 three gentlemen, whose extraordinary faculty of discernment 
 have gained them the singularly inappropriate name of " blind 
 officers," pursue their tedious avocation. 
 
 THE BLIND LETTER OFFICE 
 
 is the receptacle for all illegible, misspelt, misdirected, or insuffi- 
 ciently addressed letters or packets. Here the clerk, or clerks, 
 selected from amongst the most experienced officers, guess at 
 what ordinary intelligence would readily denominate insoluble 
 riddles. Large numbers of letters are posted daily with super- 
 scriptions which the sorters cannot decipher, and which the 
 great majority of people would not be able to read. Others, 
 again, are received with perhaps only the name of some small 
 village, the writers thinking it a work of supererogation to add 
 some neighbouring town, or even a county. Numberless, for 
 instance, are the letters bearing such addresses as " John Smith, 
 gardener, Flowerdale," or " Throgmorton Hall, Worcestershire." 
 
The Blind Letter-office. 2 7 1 
 
 Circulars, by the thousand, are posted in London and other 
 large towns without hesitancy, and with the greatest confidence 
 in the " final perseverance " principle of the Post-office people, 
 with addresses not more explicit than the foregoing. Many 
 country gentlemen would seem to cherish the idea that the names 
 of their mansions should be known equally far and near from 
 their manorial acres, and somehow they seem to inoculate their 
 correspondents with the same absurd notion. If, however, it be 
 possible to reduce the hieroglyphics on some strange letter to 
 ordinary every- day English, or find, from diligent search in his 
 library of reference, information relative to imperfectly-addressed 
 letters (information which might have been given much more 
 easily by the senders), our readers may be sure that the cunning 
 gentleman of the Blind Office, justly known for his patience and 
 sagacity, will do it, unless, indeed, the letter be " stone blind," 
 or hopelessly incomplete. As a genuine example of stone-blind 
 letters, take the following, the first of a batch which has been 
 known to pass through the blind-room of the General Post- 
 office : 
 
 Uncle John 
 
 Hopposite the Church 
 
 London. Hingland 
 
 It would certainly have been a wonderful triumph of skill to 
 have put this letter in a fair way for delivery : for once the 
 blind officer would acknowledge himself beaten ; and then the 
 Dead Letter Officers would endeavour to find " Uncle John's " 
 relative, intimating to the said relative that greater explicitness 
 was needed if " Uncle John " must be found. 
 But they manage better with the next letter in the batch. 
 
 Coneyach lunentick 
 a siliam 
 
272 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 is part of the address of a letter which the sorter no doubt threw 
 away from him with some impatience. The blind officer, how- 
 ever, reads it instantly, strikes his pen, perhaps, through the 
 address, and writes on the envelope, " Colney Hatch Lunatic 
 Asylum," and passes it out for delivery. 
 
 Oberu yenen. 
 
 is seen in an instant to be meant for " Holborn Union." " Isle 
 of Wight " is, in like manner, written on a letter improperly 
 addressed as follows : 
 
 AnnM 
 
 Oileywhite 
 Amshire 
 
 The probability is that the last-mentioned letter will come back 
 to the Dead Letter-office, on account of no town being given in 
 the address ; still, the usual course is to send it out to the local 
 district designated, there being always the possibility that certain 
 individuals may be locally known. 
 
 " Ashby-de-la-Zouch " is a town to spell which gives infinite 
 trouble to letter-writers ; but the Post-office official is especially 
 lenient and patient in cases of this kind. There are fifty different 
 ways of spelling the name, and few letters, except those of the 
 better classes, give it rightly spelt. " Hasbedellar-such " is the 
 ordinary spelling among the poor living at a distance. 
 
 Ash Bedles in such 
 
 for John Horsel, grinder 
 in the county of Lestysheer 
 
 is a copy of a veritable address meant for the above town. 
 
A Batch of Blind Letters. 273 
 
 The blind-letter officers of an earlier date succumbed before 
 the following letter : 
 
 For Mister Willy wot brinds de Baber 
 iii Lang-Gaster ware te gal is 
 
 but the dead-letter officers were enabled from the contents 
 to make out that it was meant for the editor of a Lancaster 
 paper, " where the gaol is." The communication enclosed was 
 an essay written by a foreigner against public schools ! 
 
 The blind officers are supplied with all the principal London 
 and provincial directories, court guides, gazetteers, &c. ; and by 
 the help of this, their library of reference, added to their own 
 experience and intelligence, they are generally able to put again 
 into circulation without the necessity of opening them, five out 
 of six of all the letters which are handed over to them. The 
 addresses of some letters are at once seen to be the result of 
 mistake on the part of senders. Letters addressed " Lombard 
 Street, Manchester," " St. Paul's Churchyard, Liverpool," both 
 obviously intended for London, are sent out for trial by the 
 letter-carriers at what are believed to be their real destinations. 
 (See Ninth Report.} Letters, again, for persons of rank and 
 eminence, dignitaries of the Church, prominent officers of the 
 army or navy, whose correct addresses are known, or can be 
 ascertained, are immediately sent out for delivery to their right 
 destination, however erroneously directed, without question or 
 examination of contents. The following strange letters, meant 
 for the eye of royalty, would not be impeded in their progress in 
 any way : 
 
 Keen Vic Tory at 
 Winer Casel 
 
 and 
 
 Mrs. Prince Albert 
 Balmory Castle 
 Scotland 
 
274 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 and another 
 
 Miss 
 
 Queene Victoria 
 of England 
 
 would go to Windsor Castle and Balmoral without fail ; while 
 the following, posted in London at the breaking-out of the Polish 
 Insurrection, would find its way to St. Petersburg as fast as 
 packet could carry it : 
 
 To the King of Rusheya 
 Feoren, with speed. 
 
 When the letter-carriers and the blind officers have expended 
 all their skill upon certain letters in vain, the next step is to 
 send them to 
 
 THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE, 
 
 in order that they may be returned to the writers, provided any 
 clue can be obtained from the contents as to their whereabouts. 
 The branch in which this work is accomplished is now a very 
 considerable establishment, employing at least a score more 
 clerks, &c. than in the days of the old postage. In 1763, just a 
 hundred years ago, the records show that two clerks only were 
 engaged in opening " dead and insolvent letters." Now, nearly 
 fifty officers are employed in the same duties. Nor are these 
 duties by any means so only in name. In 1863 considerably 
 over two millions of letters were returned to their writers through 
 the Dead-letter Office from failures in the attempts to deliver 
 them. " Three-quarters of the non-deliveries," says the Post- 
 master-General, "were on account of the letters being insufficiently 
 or incorrectly addressed, nearly 11,000 letters having been posted 
 without any address at all." 
 
The Dead-letter Office. 275 
 
 In every provincial post-office in England and Wales a dead 
 or returned letter-bag is now forwarded daily to London, con- 
 taining all the letters which, from any cause, cannot be delivered. 
 Each letter bears on its front, written prominently in red ink, 
 the reason for its non-delivery. Thus, if the addressee cannot be 
 found, or should have left the town, the words " Cannot be found," 
 or "Gone left no address," are written respectively. On the 
 arrival of these bags in London, inclosed in the larger bags con- 
 taining the general correspondence, they are at once passed to 
 the " returned-letter branch," as the Dead-letter Office is called; 
 where no time is lost in opening them. Every letter received is 
 first examined by an experienced and responsible officer, to 
 make sure that it has been actually presented according to its 
 address, and that the reason assigned on the cover of the letter 
 is sufficient to account for its non-delivery. In doubtful cases, 
 before the letter is opened, the directories and other books of 
 reference, of which there is a plentiful supply in this office, are 
 consulted, and should it be found or thought that there has been 
 any oversight or neglect, the letter is re-issued, with proper 
 instructions, by the first post. About 300 letters are thus re- 
 issued daily, many of which ultimately reach the persons for 
 whom they are intended. 
 
 When it has been fully ascertained that nothing further can 
 be done to effect the delivery of an imperfectly or improperly 
 addressed letter, it only remains to have it sent back to the 
 writer. This is done, if possible, without the letter being opened. 
 By an arrangement of ten years' standing, if the returned letter 
 has the writer's name and address embossed on the back of the 
 envelope, impressed on the seal, or written or printed anywhere 
 outside, it will not be opened, but be forwarded back according 
 to this address. We may point out here, however, that this 
 arrangement, excellent and satisfactory as it is, has sometimes 
 led to serious mistakes and confusion ; so much so, in fact, that 
 the Postmaster-General, in his report for 1861, appealed to 
 the public on the subject. It would appear that the practice 
 of using another person's embossed envelope is on the increase. 
 When such a letter, according to the arrangement, is forwarded 
 to the supposed writer, it has frequently fallen into the wrong 
 hands (the master and merchant instead of the clerk or other 
 
 T 2 
 
276 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 servant), and grievous complaints have been made on the subject. 
 The remedy, of course, lies with letter-writers themselves. 
 If there are no outward marks to indicate the sender, the letter 
 is then opened, and, if a suitable address can be found inside, 
 the letter is enclosed in the well-known dead-letter envelope and 
 forwarded according to that address. If a letter should be found 
 to contain anything of value, such as bank-notes, drafts, postage- 
 stamps, the precaution is taken of having a special record made 
 of it, and it is then sent back as a registered dead letter. Money 
 to the value of 12,OOOZ. or 14,000?. is annually found in these 
 returned letters. Of this sum about 5001. per annum falls into 
 the public exchequer, on account of no address being found 
 inside, and no inquiry being made for the missing letters. A 
 vast number of bank post-bills and bills of exchange are likewise 
 found, amounting in all, and on the average, to something like 
 3,000,OOOZ. a year. These bills, however, as well as money-order 
 advices, always afford some clue to the senders, even supposing 
 no address should be given inside the letter, and inquiries are 
 set on foot at the bankers and others whose names may be given 
 in the paper transactions. Forty thousand letters reach the 
 ^English returned branch each year containing property of different 
 kinds. Many presents, such as rings, pins, brooches, never 
 reach their destination, and are never sent back to the sender, 
 because they are often unaccompanied with any letter. These 
 articles, of course, become the property of the Crown. 
 
 Postmasters of Irish towns send their "dead and insolvent 
 letters " to Dublin, and the residuum of the local Scotch post- 
 towns are sent to Edinburgh. In both these capitals, this par- 
 ticular class of letters is dealt with in exactly the same manner 
 as in the London office. We are assured that the letters them- 
 selves, and the articles found in the Scotch and Irish dead letters, 
 illustrate no little the characters, the feeling, and the habits of 
 the two people. The Scotch have, comparatively speaking, the 
 fewest dead letters ; and as the writers are generally careful to 
 give their addresses inside the letters, little trouble is said to be 
 experienced in returning them, if it is necessary. The Irish dead 
 letters are more numerous than either the English or the Scotch. 
 This mainly arises from the circumstance of the nomadic habits 
 of a considerable portion of the* Irish people : owing also to the 
 
Scotch and Irish Dead Letters. 277 
 
 same circumstance, it is impossible to return many of the letters 
 to the writers. The Scotch dead letters rarely contain coin or 
 any very valuable enclosures, while of articles of jewellery, such 
 as usually form presents or tokens of affection, we are told there 
 is a "lamentable deficiency." The Irish dead letters, on the 
 contrary, " are full of little cadeaux and small sums of money," 
 illustrating at the same time both the careless and the affectionate 
 nature of the people. 
 
 Letters which can neither be delivered nor returned through 
 the Post-office, are, if found to be valuable, and if posted in the 
 United Kingdom, appropriated to a fund for assisting the officers 
 to insure their lives ; if received for delivery from a foreign State, 
 they are sent back to the chief office of that country for final 
 disposition. Letters posted in this country found to be of no 
 value, are kept at the Post-office for a month and then destroyed ; 
 foreign letters under the same circumstances are not destroyed 
 for two months. 
 
 And now, unless we at once return from our digression, we 
 shall not be in time to see the great night-mail despatched from 
 St. Martin's-le-Grand. Whilst we have been occupied with a 
 contemplation of the few waifs and strays of our national corre- 
 spondence, the great bulk of that correspondence has been well 
 and carefully disposed of : the letters and newspapers which we 
 saw two hours ago as a mass of inextricable confusion, are now 
 carefully stowed away in their respective bags, and not a letter or 
 newspaper can be found. The hall clock is silently approaching 
 the hour of eight, when the bags must all be sealed and ready 
 to leave the place. At five minutes before that time, all is still 
 bustle and activity ; five minutes perhaps after that hour the 
 establishment is nearly deserted. "Everything is done on 
 military principles to minute time." " The drill and subdivision 
 of duties are so perfect," adds a close observer, " that the alterna- 
 tions are high pressure and sudden collapse." This is the more 
 remarkable, inasmuch as the Post-office is subject to great 
 variations in the amount of work to be done. Particular nights 
 in the week, Mondays and Tuesdays for example, are known as 
 the " heaviest," and even such events as elections, influence the 
 labour to be performed within the same given time. During the 
 
278 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 last election for Lambeth, 40,000 circulars were posted in London 
 in one day, and properly disposed of. On the 14th of February, 
 1864, 957,000 extra letters, or valentines, passed through the 
 Circulation Office in London. 
 
 In place of the old mail-coaches waiting in the yard of the 
 office until the work is completed inside, we have now the well- 
 known mail- vans. As they are rapidly supplied with bags, they 
 chase each other to the various railway stations, from which, to 
 all points of the compass, the night mails now depart. Half an 
 hour afterwards, we find ourselves. in one of these trains watch- 
 ing operations not dissimilar to those we have just left, but 
 much more wonderful, considering how they are accomplished. 
 
 THE TRAVELLING POST-OFFICE. 
 
 The travelling post-office deserves special attention, not less 
 on account of the interesting nature of the work performed, than 
 because it serves many important ends in the system of which 
 it forms a part. It is to the railway post-offices that the Depart- 
 ment is indebted for much of the simplification of its accounts. 
 At different points in a mail-coach journey, long stoppages used 
 to be made in order that the " bye" and " forward" letters might 
 get sorted ; on the introduction of railways, it was seen that the 
 number of bags must either be enormously increased, and other 
 complications arise, or the railways could not to any extent be 
 rendered available for post-office purposes. Just at this juncture, 
 it was suggested that the work might be clone during the journey, 
 and the obstacles were soon surmounted. Further, by means of 
 the travelling offices, the Post-office is enabled to offer more time 
 for the posting of letters, and not only so, but to give the public 
 the benefit of earlier deliveries. * 
 
 The railway-mail service has now assumed quite gigantic pro- 
 portions. Twenty-six years ago, when railways were only partially 
 used for post-office purposes, a writer predicted that they would 
 " soon become the ne plus ultra of rapidity," and that the Post- 
 office would have to take to them more and more. " In a few 
 years," said the writer, " railways will have become so general, 
 that scarcely a mail-coach will be left in England ; certainly, 
 none will be wanted in London." Both predictions have since 
 been verified ; for the last twenty years, railways have gradually 
 
The Grand Northern Railway Post-office. 279 
 
 absorbed all the mail contracts, year by year the estimates for 
 this service showing a corresponding increase. The first railway 
 post-office journey was made on the Grand Junction Railway, 
 between Liverpool and Birmingham, on the 1st of July, 1837. 
 When the line was completed to London, in January, 1838, the 
 travelling office started from the metropolis. The following 
 curious account of the " Grand Northern Kailway Post-office," a,s 
 it was called, is culled from the Penny Magazine,. " On the 
 arrival of the four 'accelerators' at the Euston Station with the 
 mails, the railway servants immediately carry the large sacks to 
 a huge-looking mac] line, with a tender attached to it, both at 
 the end of the train. This caravan is the flying Post-office, with 
 a table" for sorting letters, and holes round the walls for their 
 reception." The carriage was certainly either an ungainly 
 structure, or the above is a most ungainly report. "In ten 
 minutes," continues the narrator, "the omnibuses are emptied 
 of their contents, and the train of carriages is then wound up to 
 the station at Camden Town, where the engine is attached, and 
 the Primrose Hill tunnel soon prevents us hearing the thunder 
 of their rapid progress." The Londoner of 1864, in these days of 
 metropolitan railways, can afford to smile at this last sentence. 
 That the change in the system of mail conveyance wrought 
 immediate and striking improvement at the post-office does not 
 admit of question. In a contemporary account, we find an 
 interesting but wonder-stricken writer stating that "by means 
 of the extra railway facilities, letters now pass along this line 
 (London and Birmingham) in a space of time so inconceivably 
 quick, that some time must elapse before our ideas become 
 accustomed to such a rapid mode of intercourse." 
 
 When the railways were extended farther northwards, the 
 Railway Post-office was extended with them, and was formed 
 into sections. Thus, when the lines were continued north as far 
 as Lancaster, there were two divisions formed, one staff of clerks, 
 &c. to the number of eight, working between London and 
 Birmingham, and ten between Birmingham and Lancaster. 1 
 
 1 On the arrival of the mail at Rugby, the bags for such places as Leicester, 
 Derby, Lincolu, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh were left : subse- 
 quently another branch of the railway post-office was started, which travelled 
 Irora Rugby to York. After leaving Rugby, the mail continued its progress 
 to Birmingham; thence by the Grand Junction Railway to Crewe, where the 
 Irish letters were given off to go to Chester; thence to Parkside oil the Liver- 
 
280 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 There were two mails each day in both directions. The distance 
 between London and Lancaster (241 miles) was accomplished in 
 eleven hours and a half. The weight of the railway post-office, 
 tender, bags, and clerks, is stated by Mr. Wishaw, in his work on 
 railways, to have been at that period about nine tons. At present, 
 on the great trunk line of the London and North Western Railway 
 Company, no fewer than eight mail-trains run daily up and 
 down, each conveying railway post-office carriages and post-office 
 employes. Two of these trains are run specially, the number 
 of passengers being limited. The weight of mails running over 
 this ground must have increased fourfold at the least, since 1839, 
 inasmuch as the number of officers have been augmented in even 
 a greater proportion. Surprising as was the speed at which the 
 first railway post-office travelled, and wonderful as it was thought 
 at the time, one of the mail-trains now runs nearly double the 
 distance between London and Lancaster during the time which 
 used to be taken for that ground alone. The Limited night-mail, 
 travelling between the Euston-square station in London, and 
 Perth in Scotland, accomplishes the distance of 451 miles in 
 eleven hours and a half, or about forty miles an hour including 
 stoppages ! 
 
 The railway post-office proper, is now extended over nearly 
 every considerable line of railway in the kingdom. It com- 
 prises a number of divisions or sections, named generally from 
 the locality through which they extend, or the railway travelled 
 over, as the Bangor and Leeds division, the Caledonian division. 
 The four principal or trunk mails, three of them being divided 
 into two sections, are (1) the North- Western Railway post- 
 office, travelling between London and Carlisle ; (2) the Irish 
 Mail, between London* and Holyhead ; (3) the Great Western, 
 between London and Exeter ; and (4) the Midland, between 
 Bristol and Newcastle-on-Tyne. Most of these divisions have 
 day as well as night-mafia running over them daily. Four 
 trains a day, being two in each direction, are therefore the 
 usual proportion of mails on the chief lines of railway. As 
 London is the heart of the postal system, so these four principal 
 
 pool and Manchester railway, where the bags for these two towns were left. 
 The train then ran over the North Union railway to Preston, and from 
 Preston by the Preston and Lancaster line to Lancaster Penny Magazine. 
 The above, with some few divergences, is uow the mail route to Scotland. 
 
Present Arrangements. 281 
 
 mails may be termed its main arteries, while as veins in the 
 great system, there are a number of smaller divisions of the 
 railway post-office that have not been enumerated. Again, at 
 other parts or points not important or extensive enough for 
 travelling offices, railway trains are arranged to wait the arrival 
 of the trunk mails ; and thus, to continue the figure, our letters 
 the life-blood of a nation's commerce and sociality are con- 
 veyed to the remotest corners of the country. 
 
 It may be imagined that a proper control of this vast machi- 
 nery, extending through almost every county in the kingdom, 
 with its scattered staff of officials, will be difficult ; but the 
 efficient working of the whole is nevertheless as thoroughly and 
 promptly maintained as in any other department where personal 
 supervision is more direct. Each divisional part has distinct 
 officers allotted to it, the number of clerks being regulated accord- 
 ing to the number of mails running over the division in the 
 course of a day, and the number of sorters according to the 
 amount of sorting duties to be performed. Each mail travels 
 under the charge of one clerk, while each division is locally 
 superintended by one senior clerk. The entire direction, how- 
 ever, of all the travelling officers is vested in the Inspector- 
 General of Mails, who also presides over the Mail Office at 
 St. Martin's-le-Grand. We may here further state, that the 
 length of the divisions the extent of one of which forms a 
 post-office journey or "trip" varies slightly, averaging about 
 170 miles ; the average time taken to perform the trips being 
 between five and six hours. As a rule, the night-mails travel 
 during the night-time, or between eight P.M. and six A.M. ; the 
 day-mails generally speaking throughout the day. 
 
 But we must make ready for our journey, and enter more 
 into detail. While van after van is arriving with its heavy 
 loads of mail-bags, we have time to notice that the train 
 standing at the great London terminus is nearly all post-office. 
 Two or three carriages are being filled as full as possible with 
 made-up bags, and two more, fitted up like post-offices, are 
 simply meant for operations similar to those we have already 
 seen at the General Post-office, in connexion with the unfinished 
 work which has now to be accomplished during the journey. It 
 is with the remaining carriage only that we have to do. Seen 
 
282 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 from the outside, the office itself may still answer to the descrip- 
 tion given of it twenty-five years ago by our authority above 
 adverted to, although considerable improvements mast have 
 been made in its construction since that time. Though the 
 structure is built with a very evident serviceable purpose, the 
 large, heavily-painted, windowless vehicle, looks more as if 
 intended for the conveyance of Her Majesty's horses than Her 
 Majesty's mails ; the roof, however, covered with glass, with' 
 other contrivances for the purposes of ventilation, soon con- 
 vinces us that it is intended for some description of the genus 
 homo. We go inside, and find it built like an ordinary saloon- 
 carriage, about twenty-two feet long, and as wide and spacious 
 as the railway arrangements will allow. It is night-time, the 
 reader will remember, and the interior looks warm and cheerful 
 with its row of bright-burning moderator lamps, and, in this 
 respect, contrasts strongly and pleasantly, as far as we are con- 
 cerned, with the dimly-lighted station, through which the cold 
 night air is rushing. The reader who is following us in this 
 description must abstain from imagining anything like luxury 
 in the internal fittings. Everything here is requisite for accom- 
 plishing the work in hand, but there is no provision for any 
 kind of indulgence ; and spacious as the place seems at a first 
 glance, there is not to be found, when we come to look narrowly, 
 a single foot of spare room. Along the whole length of one side 
 of the carriage, and encroaching materially upon its width, a 
 number of tiers of boxes the " holes " of our ancient authority 
 are arranged for the sorting processes ; the smaller ones for 
 the letters, and the larger ones in the centre of the office more 
 like shelves, many of them being movable for the newspapers 
 and all that vast variety of articles forwarded according to the 
 rules of book-post. Every available inch of space on the other 
 side of the office is covered with upright pegs, in recesses sunk 
 in the carriage-sides, upon which are hung the bags now made 
 of canvas, with the names of towns conspicuously painted upon 
 them to be used in the course of the journey. These recesses, 
 as well as the two ends of the office, are well padded over, to 
 secure additional safety to the officers in the event of any acci- 
 dent. 1 Under the desks or counters, which run from one end 
 
 1 The construction of the offices has been entirely altered of late years witli 
 this view, and they are now as safe as they can well be made. 
 
The Modus Operandi. 283 
 
 of the carriage to the other, bags are packed, to be given out 
 as the train arrives at the respective stations. 
 
 In less time, however, than it would take to read the fore- 
 going, the mail has speeded miles away, and reached, by this 
 time, the fox-covers and game-preserves of those Hertfordshire 
 landowners who, when the railway was projected, expressed the 
 wish that its concoctors " were at rest in Paradise ! " The train 
 possibly " thundered " through Camden Town as it used to do 
 in olden times, but it would be but a momentary sensation, not 
 to speak of the inhabitants being now quite accustomed to it. 
 The Post-office work commenced when the train left the station. 
 The bags were quickly seized- by the proper sorter, cut, and 
 their contents turned out on. the desk. Then he distributes 
 what he finds in the bags according to a pre-arranged order. 
 The registered letters which have found their way to the office 
 he at once transfers to the clerk on duty whose special province 
 it is to deal with them ; the bundles of ordinary letters in one 
 of which packets is the identical letter we ourselves posted he 
 hands over to his fellow-sorters, who, each standing opposite to 
 a distinct set of boxes, labelled with the names of different 
 towns on the route, at once sort them away. The newspapers 
 he deals with himself. The work thus started, the scene pre- 
 sently becomes one of considerable animation and a pleasant- 
 enough sort of excitement, till every bundle of letters is cut 
 open and disposed of in the boxes. There is then a lull, but 
 it is only temporary. It is true that the train will not stop 
 till the county of Warwickshire is reached ; but the intervening 
 country is provided for nevertheless arrangements having been 
 made that at all the towns we pass the exchange of letter-bags 
 shall be, effected by means of machinery whilst the train is 
 progressing at its usual speed. The contrivance in question 
 deserves minute description. 1 The machinery is not worked in 
 
 1 The contrivance for exchanging mail-bags is now used at more than a 
 hundred different railway-stations. At some stations it is used four, six, and 
 eight times every working day. Mr. Ramsay, of the General Post-office is 
 said to have suggested the machinery in question; but his original invention 
 was rude and somewhat unsatisfactory in application. Mr. Dicker made 
 improvements in its construction so that it could be generally used. For his 
 services, Mr. Dicker received from the Lords of the Treasury the sum of 500/. 
 and the Postmaster-General found him a place as " Supervisor of Mail-bas 
 Apparatus." Mr. Pearson Hill is credited with further improvements 3 such 
 
284 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 the post-office, but in an adjoining van. By means, however, 
 of a substantial iron gangway, the two carriages are connected, 
 so that we can pass easily from one to the other and see the 
 operation itself. As we do so we are evidently nearing some 
 town, for the sorter is at that moment engaged in peering out 
 of the window into the darkness in search of some familiar 
 object, such as bridge, river, or cluster of trees, by means of 
 which he is enabled to tell his whereabouts with almost mathe- 
 matical precision. Whilst he is busy finding his position we 
 will take the time to explain, that the machinery is arranged 
 so as to secure, simultaneously in most cases, both the receipt 
 and the despatch of bags. For the purpose of receiving bags, 
 a large strong net is fixed to one side of the van, to be drawn 
 down at the proper moment ; and close to the door, on each 
 side of it, securely fixed to the carriage, are hollow iron bars, 
 inside each of which, working by means of a rope and pulley, 
 an iron arm is fixed, upon which the bags to be delivered, 
 securely strapped in a thick, leathern pouch, are suspended. 
 Where the exchange has to be effected at the station we aro 
 nearing, the arrangements are just the counterparts of this. 
 A net is spread to catch each pouch from the extended arm. 
 of the carriage, and pouches are hung from iron standards in 
 the ground of sufficient height for the net in the train. The 
 operation itself is just commencing. The door is pushed back 
 into the groove in which it works, and then the sorter, touching 
 a spring that holds up the net, it is loosened from its supports, 
 and projects over the carriage-sides ; the iron arm, acting on 
 its pulley-rope, is drawn round into the carriage, where the 
 pouch is rapidly fastened to it by means of a catch or spring 
 but in such a manner that a touch from the net-apparatus 
 at the station will bring it off and then let down, remaining 
 by virtue of its own weight at right angles to the door. A 
 moment of waiting, and then all the machinery acts its assigned 
 part properly ; the pouch disappears from the arm (or arms, if 
 the bags have been heavy enough for two to be used), and at 
 the same moment another descends into the post-office net, and 
 all is over and quiet as before. We mean, of course, compa- 
 
 as the double arm, so that the machinery might be made available for the 
 larger stations. 
 
The Mail- Bag Apparatus. 285 
 
 rative quiet, as much as is possible amid the din and endless 
 rattle of a train speeding at the rate of forty miles an hour. 
 
 We follow the sorter as he makes his way back into the post- 
 office carriage, carrying with him the treasures we have watched 
 him pick up by the wayside. These new arrivals disposed of in 
 the orthodox way, and the process repeated two or three times, 
 there is suddenly a movement among the officers as they busy 
 themselves in collecting from the different boxes all the letters 
 that have been received from first to last for the bags about to 
 be despatched at the approaching town the first junction 
 station. The letters in question are examined to test the cor- 
 rectness of the sorting, then tied up in bundles in a sharp and 
 decisive way, then placed away carefully in the several bags, 
 which are tied, sealed, and ready for delivery just as the train is 
 brought to a stand. Here they are given out ; fresh supplies are 
 received from a number of large towns in the immediate district, 
 and the train is again on its way. The bags received are at once 
 opened ; the same round of sorting, collecting, examining, is 
 gone through ; the same process of despatching for the next 
 and all subsequent postal stages is repeated, just as we have 
 described. Little variation is noticed, except that at certain 
 points a much larger number of bags are thrown into the office 
 for instance, as the train nears the more thickly populated parts 
 of the midland counties, then the " black country," as it is called, 
 and subsequently the manufacturing districts. At one of these 
 points a considerable addition was made to the staff of sorters, 
 who fell at once to work in the vacant spaces left for them. 
 And it was not before they were required ; for presently the train 
 arrives at one of the principal mail junctions in the kingdom, 
 where an immense number of bags wait our arrival. These bags 
 have been brought somewhat earlier on, by other mail-trains, 
 arranged so as to effect a junction with us ; these having in their 
 turn met with other trains running across the country in trans- 
 verse directions. Thus there are here, bags from towns near and 
 towns remote, containing letters for places from which we are, 
 as yet, hundreds of miles distant. The work, however, will be 
 resumed with increased activity, according to the number of 
 letters which may be forthcoming, only whatever number there 
 may be, all must be finished in a given time. So far, the reader 
 
286 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 may imagine the duty to be one of dull routine and very mono- 
 tonous ; so as a rule we believe it is : there are circumstances 
 connected with the manner of travelling, however, which con- 
 spire to make it at times somewhat varied and exceptional. 
 One moment, and we are clattering down a hill, and the sorting 
 partakes, to some extent, of the same tear-away speed ; another 
 time, we are panting up a line of steep gradient, and the letters 
 find their boxes very deliberately ; now, the rails are somewhat 
 out of order, or the coupling of the carriages has not been well 
 attended to, or we are winding round a succession of sharp 
 curves, and can scarcely keep our feet as the carriage lurches 
 first to one side, then to the other ; in all which cases, not only 
 is our own equilibrium a source of difficulty to us, but we see that 
 things proceed anything but smoothly among the letters, which 
 refuse to go in at all, or go in with a spirited evolution, flutter- 
 ing outside, and then landing at their destination upside down, 
 or in some other way transgressing official rules in such case 
 made and provided. 
 
 Hitherto all has been bustle and constant work ; now it seems 
 as if the strain upon the workers had materially lessened, the 
 change being accounted for by the fact that the country through 
 which we are now proceeding is only thinly supplied with 
 towns. The sorters, glad of a little relaxation, take advantage 
 of the break in the character of the duty, and produce from 
 their hiding-places under the blue cloth-covered counter, an oval 
 kind of swing-seat attached to it, which turns outside somewhat 
 ingeniously upon a swivel, and henceforth seat themselves at 
 their work. This work is now that of examination to test the' 
 correctness of the preceding sorting process, for which work 
 there is generally sufficient time allowed. It is now that 
 looking over the shoulders of the sorters engaged in this 
 operation we find amusement in the variety and strangeness 
 of so many of the addresses of the letters. Some say too 
 little, others too much ; some give the phonetic system with 
 malice prepense, others because it is Nature's own rendering, 
 and they have never known school ! Sometimes (and the 
 practice is growing) the envelope is covered with long adver- 
 tisements, for the benefit and information of the Post-office 
 officials, we presume, in which case it is difficult to arrive at the 
 
On Addressing Letters. 287 
 
 proper address of the letter at the first or even second glance. 
 Some give the address of the sender in prominent printed cha- 
 racters, and it is surely not a matter of wonder, though often of 
 complaint, when the letter finds its way back to the sender. In 
 the case of the rebus addresses, or those where they are not written 
 but pricked with a pin, and otherwise painfully elaborated, the 
 sorter has his patience and ingenuity exercised to no little extent. 
 In all such instances time is of course lost to the Post-office 
 and the work of examination is necessarily deliberate, hesitating 
 or slow. At one point, the quota of letters from the sister isle 
 is received, and it is then perhaps that the sorter's patience is 
 put to the severest test. The addresses of the poorer Irish are 
 at times so involved generally being sent to the care of one or 
 two individuals, " or any dacent neighbour " that they fre- 
 quently present the appearance of a little wilderness of words. 
 The English poor oftener show their unbounded confidence in 
 the Post-office officials by leaving out some essential part of the 
 address, while the Scotch, as a rule, attain the golden mean in 
 such matters. We believe the statistics of the dead-letter 
 offices of the three countries confirm, to some considerable 
 extent, our rough generalizations. 
 
 After all, however, the cases of blunder are exceptional ; and 
 as no really blind letters are found in the travelling post-office, 
 because no letters are posted here, little difficulty, comparatively 
 speaking, is felt, and nothing but ordinary patience and the 
 Eosetta stone of experience are needed for the due performance 
 of the duty. The great majority of letters are like the great 
 majority of people ordinary, unexceptionable, and mediocre. 
 In the railway post-office, however, much is learned from the 
 habit of association. The officer, of course, takes some degree 
 of interest in the towns on his ride ; for, almost domesticated 
 on the rail, he becomes a sort of denizen of those towns he is 
 constantly passing, and sees, or fancies he does, from the letters 
 that arrive from them, a kind of corroboration of all he has 
 settled in his mind with regard to them. Almost every town 
 has its distinctive kind of letters. That town we just passed is 
 manufacturing, and the letters are almost entirely confined to 
 sober-looking advice-cards, circulars, prices current, and invoices, 
 generally very similar in kind and appearance, in good-sized 
 
288 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 envelopes, with very plainly written or printed addresses. Now 
 and then a lawyer's letter, written in a painfully distinct hand, 
 or a thick, fat, banker's letter, groaning under the weight of bills 
 and notes, escapes from company such as we have described ; 
 but still the letters sustain the town's real character. Now we 
 are at an old country town, with quiet-going people, living as 
 their fathers did before them, and inheriting not only their 
 money and lands, but their most cherished principles : their 
 letters are just as we expected, little, quiet, old-fashioned-looking 
 things, remarkable for nothing so much as their fewness. Now 
 we are among the coal-districts, and almost all the letters have 
 a smudged appearance, making you imagine that they must 
 have been written by the light of pit-candles, in some region of 
 carbon " two hundred fathoms down." This bag comes from a 
 sea-bathing place, and so long as summer continues, will unmis- 
 takably remind you of sea-shore, sea-sand, and sea anemones. 
 These bags have previously had to cross a broad sea-ferry, and 
 the letters tell of salt water as certainly as if they were so many 
 fishes. Another twenty miles, and we come to an old cathedral 
 town with its letters looking as orthodox as any Convocation 
 could wish ; whilst that other town is clearly a resort of fashion, 
 if we may judge from the finely scented, perfumed, elegant- 
 looking billets that escape from its post-bag. 
 
 And thus interested and observing, we are rapidly reaching 
 our destination. We are at the terminus at last. The office is 
 emptied of all its contents, and the bags, securely made up, are 
 forwarded under care of other officers in different trains, pro- 
 ceeding far and near. Nor have we forgotten our own letter. 
 In the vast mass of letters it holds a well-secured place, being 
 safely ensconced in one of these very bags ; and we will endea- 
 vour to be present when the bag is opened, that we may verify 
 our assertion. Out of the carriage and once on terra firma, we 
 feel a sensation of dreamy wonder that nothing has happened to 
 us ; that, considering the noise, and the whirl, and the excite- 
 ment of the work we have witnessed, our brain is not tied up 
 in a knot somewhere in the head, instead of only swimming. 
 Dusty, tired, and sleepy, we hurry through the streets for 
 refreshment, if not repose, while the day is just breaking. 
 
 Of course, this Post-office machinery, which we have attempted 
 
A Provincial Post-office. 289 
 
 to describe, is necessarily delicate and liable to derangements, 
 inasmuch as it has to depend to a great extent on the proper 
 carrying out throughout the country of an infinite number of 
 railway arrangements. Its successful working is doubtless 
 primarily due to the special time chosen for the conveyance of 
 mails. The ordinary traffic disposed of, the mail-trains take its 
 place, and through the long night the best part of the Post-office 
 work is accomplished. The good or bad management of railway 
 companies may assist or retard the efficiency of the Post-office 
 to an almost incalculable extent. The railway post-office is like 
 a gigantic machine, one part interdependent on another, and all 
 alike dependent on the motive power of the different contracting 
 parties. Railway accidents are fruitful sources of discomfiture 
 to the Post-office Department. The mail-trains have, within 
 the last two or three years, enjoyed an immunity from any very 
 serious calamity of this nature : yet even when this is not the 
 case, it very seldom happens that the Post-office arrangements 
 suffer, except on the particular journey wherein the accident 
 occurred. Fresh supplies of men and materiel are summoned 
 with a speed that would, or ought to, surprise some other com- 
 missariat departments, and the work proceeds the next day or 
 night as if the equilibrium had never been disturbed. 
 
 A PROVINCIAL POST-OFFICE. 
 
 Thirty years ago the arrangements in the north-country town 
 of the district to which our imaginary letter was addressed, and 
 which we have engaged to visit, were, like the arrangements of 
 all other towns in England of its size, of the most primitive 
 kind. The town itself had always held a certain important 
 position in the district. Even anterior to the establishment of 
 the British Post-office, it was the first town of its county. Sub- 
 sequently, being on the direct line of one of the principal mail 
 routes, and now in these days of railways somewhat similarly 
 situated, it always was, and still is, a kind of junction for the 
 neighbourhood. Postally speaking, it was always a place of 
 importance, as it included within its boundaries nearly a hun- 
 dred villages, all of which derived their letter-sustenance from it 
 as the fountain-head. At the period of time in question the 
 Post-office was situated in a central part of the town, the outside 
 
 u 
 
290 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 of the building partaking of the ugly and old-fashioned style of 
 the shops of that day. It was then considered quite sufficient 
 for the business of the place that there should be a small room 
 of about twenty feet square devoted to postal purposes ; that 
 there should be a long counter, upon which the letters might be 
 stamped and charged, and a small set of letter-boxes for the 
 sorting processes. Added, however, to the proper business of the 
 neighbourhood, there used to be a kind of work done here which 
 was confined to a few towns on the lines of mails, selected for this 
 supplementary business on account of their central positions. 
 The mail-coaches, as they passed and repassed northwards and 
 southwards, stopped here for half an hour until certain necessary 
 sorting operations could be performed with a portion of the 
 letters. In this way our particular town held the style and 
 designation, and with it the prestige, of a " Forwarding Office." 
 
 The public required little attention, and got but little. Being 
 prior to the time of postage-stamps, and we may almost add 
 of money-orders, not to speak of savings' bank business, few 
 applications were ever made to the officers consisting of a 
 postmaster, his wife, and another clerk for anything but stray 
 scraps of information relative to the despatch of mails. The 
 communication with the public was anything but close, being 
 conducted in this town and, in fact, in all others of our 
 acquaintance through a trap-door in a wooden pane in the 
 office-window. Near to it was a huge slit, being a passage to a 
 basket, into which letters and newspapers were promiscuously 
 thrown. The principal labour incident to the old style of 
 postage was in regulating the amount to be paid on the different 
 letters. Those posted in the town for the town itself were deli- 
 vered for a penny ; twopence was charged into the country 
 places surrounding : letters for the metropolis cost a shilling ; 
 and Scotch letters eightpence-halfpenny at least, the odd half- 
 penny being the charge as a toll for the letter crossing the 
 Tweed. The delivery of the letters in the town took place at 
 any time during the day, according to the arrival of the mails, 
 and it was effected by a single letter-carrier. 1 Private boxes for 
 
 1 As the letter-carriers were not employed by Government, curious practice* 
 prevailed amonjr them; they seem, in fact, to have performed their duties 
 pretty much as they chose. As a picture not at all uncommon of this class 01 
 
The Good Old Times. 291 
 
 the principal merchants in the town, and private bags for the 
 country gentlemen, were almost indispensable to those who 
 cared for the proper despatch and security of their correspond- 
 ence. Many gentlemen who did not arrange to have private 
 bags (at a great yearly expense) were compelled to make fre- 
 quent journeys to the town to ascertain if any letters had 
 arrived for them. Some letters would remain at the Post-office 
 for days and even weeks unknown to the persons to whom they 
 were addressed, who would perhaps hear of the circumstance 
 from some friend quite accidentally. Letter-delivering in the 
 rural districts was then a private concern, and, in consequence, 
 those letters destined for a particular road were laid aside till a 
 sufficient number were accumulated to make it worth while to 
 convey them at a charge of a penny a letter. 1 Owing to the 
 wretched system, or rather want of system, in force, many country 
 places round a post-office were, to all intents and purposes, more 
 remote than most foreign countries are at this hour. One or 
 two letter-carriers sufficing for the wants of the town, we need 
 scarcely say that the number of letters received was exceedingly 
 small. Now a single firm, or two at any rate, in the same town, 
 will cause a greater amount of daily postal business in the letters 
 received and despatched than the entire population of thirty or 
 forty years ago. 
 
 Our purpose will not allow of our describing all the attendant 
 circumstances of the state of things existing at this early period, 
 or more fully than we have already done in the case of the old 
 mail-guard and the mail-coach, the postal arrangements of the 
 past. One word, however, of the " expresses " before we* pass 
 on. Designed to supply some sudden emergency, they were of 
 
 men and the style in which some of them performed their duties, a sentence 
 from an autobiographical sketch of the period is most graphic : " One 
 villainous old letter-carrier whom I remember was a drunken, surly, dishonest 
 scoundrel, who used to carry the letters away from the office to a wretched 
 den of his own where I sometimes saw him sorting them on the floor, while 
 he growled and snarled over them like a dog over a heap of unsatisfactory 
 bones." 
 
 1 We still sometimes hear reports to the effect that deliveries in certain 
 towns are not made unless there are a certain number of letters. Of course 
 this is never so, but it reminds us of a (reported) postal regulation in a certain 
 British dependency, where the postman (reputed to be a person of intelligence) 
 always reads the letters committed to his care, and delivers them only if im- 
 portant; otherwise, it is said, he makes them wait for the following mail ! 
 
 TJ 2 
 
292 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 great use where quick intelligence was urgently required. For 
 this purpose they might be had from the Post-office people at 
 any hour, and generally they were procured through the night. 
 A special mounted messenger might be despatched, under this 
 arrangement, with the single letter, marked with the well-known 
 " Haste ! post haste ! " and carrying with him a way-bill, to 
 account for the time taken to perform the journey. The charge 
 for expenses was at the rate of a shilling a mile, the speed at 
 which they travelled averaging ten miles an hour. 
 
 Now this is changed, and almost all postal arrangements, 
 prior to the days of Sir Kowland Hill, are as so many things of 
 the past. The Post-office itself is metamorphosed into quite a 
 grand establishment. This part, now dedicated to the public, 
 might be part of a first-class banking establishment. Entering 
 by a spacious doorway, there is ample accommodation for a score 
 of people to stand in the ante-room and leisurely transact their 
 business. Then there runs along the whole length of the first or 
 public room a substantial mahogany counter, behind which the 
 clerks stand to answer inquiries and attend to the ordinary daily 
 business. There is a desk for the money-order clerk, and a 
 drawer in which postage-stamps are kept. Close by we see one 
 or two ranges of boxes ; one for caller's letters poste restante 
 and another for those who prefer to engage private boxes to 
 having their letters delivered by the postmen. Outside, things 
 are changed also. The wooden pane nay, the window itself 
 has disappeared to make way for a more modern structure ; and 
 instead of the single letter-box, there are several. Late letters 
 are now provided for in a private box, and so also are news- 
 papers. The principal Post-office work is accomplished in an 
 interior apartment, from which the public are studiously ex- 
 cluded, while the postmaster in our larger towns transacts his 
 business in another separate apartment. Several large tables 
 stand in the centre of the room, one of them well padded with 
 leather is used specially for letter-stamping ; a number of letter- 
 benches for boxes are not used much now are arranged 
 against three of the four walls and in the middle of the room, 
 on which the letters and newspapers are sorted. Empty canvas 
 bags of different sizes, with metal labels attached (if the name 
 of the town is not painted on them), books, printed papers of 
 
Inside a Provincial Office. 293 
 
 different kinds, bundles of string, &c. make up the furniture of 
 the apartment, and complete the appearance of it immediately 
 prior to the receipt of the early morning mail. 
 
 Long before the ordinary workmen in our towns are sum- 
 moned from their repose, the Post-office work in the provinces 
 may be said to commence by the mail-cart clattering through 
 the now silent streets to the railway station, there to await the 
 arrival of the first and principal mail and its first daily instal- 
 ment of bags. At the given time, and only (even in the depth 
 of winter) very occasionally late, the train emerges out of the 
 darkness, its two shining lamps in front, into the silent and 
 almost empty station. The process described in our account of 
 the travelling post-office is here gone through ; a rapid exchange 
 of bags is made, and each interest goes its separate and hurried 
 way. During the interval, and just before the mail-cart 
 deposits its contents at the door of the post-office, the clerks 
 and letter-carriers will have been roused from their beds, and 
 somewhat sulkily, perhaps, have found their places in time. 
 They look sleepy and dull, but this is excusable : the hour is a 
 drowsy one, and half the world is dozing. The well-known 
 sound of the mail-cart breaks the spell, however, and soon they 
 are all thoroughly alive, nay, even interested, in the duties in 
 which they are engaged. The bags just arrived are immediately 
 seized by one of their number, who hurriedly cuts their throats, 
 and then empties the contents upon the huge table in a great 
 heap : somewhere in the heap our letter is safely deposited. 
 The bundles of letters are quickly taken to the letter-stampers, 
 through whose hands they must first pass. With a speed and 
 accuracy which rivals machinery, 1 an agile letter-stamper will 
 soon impress a copy of the dated stamp of the office upon the 
 back of a hundred letters, and this done, they are passed over to 
 the clerks and sorters to arrange them in the different boxes, 
 the process being repeated till the whole are disposed of. The 
 newspapers are taken from the table without being stamped, 
 and sorted by the letter-carriers. As soon as the first or preli- 
 minary sorting is over, each sorter will proceed upon distinctive 
 duties ; some will prepare the letters for the letter-carriers, by 
 
 1 Machines for letter-stamping have been in use for some time in London 
 and Paris. They are not yet perfect enough for general use. 
 
294 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 sorting each man's letters together, according to their different 
 number. When this is done, the letters are handed to the 
 carriers, who retire to a separate room, looking with its desks 
 very like a small schoolroom, and there arrange them in order 
 to deliver them from house to house. Other officers will prepare 
 the letters for the sub-offices and rural messengers. When all 
 the letters, &c. for a certain village are gathered up, they are 
 counted and tied up in bundles ; if any charged letters are sent, 
 the amount is debited against the sub-postmaster of the place 
 on a letter-bill something like an invoice which invariably 
 accompanies every Post-office letter-bag despatched from one 
 post-town to another, or from one head office to a sub-office. If 
 any registered letters are of the number to be sent, the name 
 of each addressee is carefully written on the letter-bill. Private 
 and locked bags for the country gentry still survive, and may be 
 obtained for an annual fee of one guinea. They are attended 
 to with some care, and are carried to their destination with the 
 other made-up bags. When the mails are ready, they are sent 
 from the Post-office in various ways. Those for one or two 
 country roads are sent to a local railway station, and taken in 
 charge by the railway guard, who drops the bags at the different 
 points on the line according to their address ; others are carried 
 by mail gigs under one or more private contractors, while the 
 rest are taken by country-walking postmen, who make certain 
 journeys during the day, returning in the evening with the 
 letters and bags they have gathered during their travels. Of 
 course the rural messengers take out loose letters as well ; e.g. 
 those for detached dwellings on their line of road. Our letter 
 falls into the hands of one of those hard-working and deserving 
 men. 1 The village, or rather hamlet, to which it is addressed 
 is too small for a post-office, but a rural postman passes through 
 
 1 It is generally allowed that the country postmen are, as a rule, such as we 
 have described them. Edward Capern, the Wayside Poet, at the time a rural 
 letter-carrier between Bideford and Buckland Brewer, Devonshire, walking 
 thirteen miles a day, Sunday included, for 10s. 6d. a week, has described their 
 Hie in the following poem : 
 
 " ! the postman's is as blessed a life 
 
 As any one's, I trow, 
 If leaping the stile o'er many a mile 
 Can blessedness bestow. 
 
Our Rural Postmen. 295 
 
 it on his daily journey ings about ten o'clock each morning, 
 delivering with scrupulous fidelity everything committed to his 
 care. Thus, posted where we saw it last night, it passes from 
 hand to hand all through the long night, and eventually reaches 
 
 " If tearing your WHJ through a tangled wood, 
 
 Or dragging your limbs through a lawn ; 
 If wading knee-deep through an angry flood, 
 Or a plough' d field newly sown, 
 
 " If sweating big drops 'neath a burning sun, 
 
 And shiv'ring 'mid sleet and snow ; 
 If drenched to the skin with rain, be fun, 
 And can a joy bestow ! 
 
 " If toiling away through a weary week 
 
 (No six days' work but seven) 
 Without one holy hour to seek 
 A resting place in heaven : 
 
 " If hearing the bells ring Sabbath chimes, 
 
 To bid us all repair 
 To church (as in the olden times) 
 And bend the knee in prayer : 
 
 " If in these bells he hears a voice 
 
 ' To thy delivery ! ' 
 God says to every soul ' rejoice,' 
 But, postman, not to thee. 
 
 '* 0, the postman's is a blessed life ! 
 
 And sighing heavily, 
 Ha, ha,' he'll say, ' alack a-day ! 
 Where's Britain's piety ? ' 
 
 " Heigho ! I come and go 
 
 Through the muck and miry slough ; 
 Heigho ! I come and go 
 Heavy at heart and weary O ! 
 
 "Heigho! Heigho! 
 
 Does any one pray for the postman ? No ! 
 No ! no ! no ! no ! 
 Or he would not be robbed of his Sabbath so ! " 
 
 In The Rural Postman's Sabbath, Capern seems to breathe a more contented 
 strain. His poetical remonstrances, probably on account of their originality, 
 were more successful than they might have been if given in prose. The 
 authorities raised his salary, and relieved him of his Sunday labours. Few 
 rural postmen now travel on Sundays. The poet-postman has also had a 
 pension granted him from the Royal Bounty Fund. In Capern's case we find 
 literary abilities of a high order in the very lowest ranks of the Post-office. 
 When we have mentioned the names of Mr. Anthony Trollope, Mr. Edmund 
 Yates, and Mr. Frank Scudamore, we have said enough to show that they 
 exist also in the highest ranks of the service. Of all these names, and their 
 varied successes in literature, the Post-office has just reason to be very proud. 
 
296 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 that hand for which it was intended 300 odd miles away, nearly 
 as surely as if we had travelled to deliver it ourselves. 
 
 But to return. While some of the officers are attending in 
 this way to the wants of the country, others are serving the 
 interests of the town. A hundred or two gentlemen, bankers 
 and manufacturers, pay an extra guinea yearly in order to secure 
 certain special privileges at the Post-office. These privileges 
 consist, in brief, of having their letters arranged in private 
 boxes, each labelled with their names, and delivered from these 
 boxes by one of the clerks as soon as the office is opened, or the 
 moment the letter-carriers emerge from it to enter upon any of 
 the daily deliveries of letters. Of course these letters must be 
 prepared previously. 
 
 The office is open to the public for money-orders and for the 
 transaction of the business of the new savings' banks at nine 
 o'clock, and continues open on every day, except Saturdays, 
 until six, on which day two hours longer are allowed. It is not 
 necessary to describe the arrangements in these branches, seeing 
 that the public are familiar from daily experience with them. 
 It will suffice to say that separate clerks are usually delegated to 
 these duties in our large towns, and are answerable to the post- 
 master for the correctness of their accounts. The same clerk 
 attends to the sale of postage-stamps, keeping an account with 
 the postmaster of the quantity sold, and also of the stamps bought 
 from the public under the recent arrangement. In larger towns 
 where one clerk is specially retained for these duties, he is 
 known as the "window clerk," as it devolves upon him to 
 answer all applications and inquiries. 
 
 Throughout the day, the quietness of the Post-office proper is 
 broken in upon and varied by the arrival of some small mail. 
 On one of these occasions, namely, on the receipt of the day-mail 
 from London, the operations of the morning are gone over again 
 on a small scale, and for a short time the office presents an 
 appearance of some of its early bustle. Letters are delivered 
 in the town, but those arriving for the country places remain at 
 the office till the next morning. 
 
 The work of the Post-office commences before "grey dawn," 
 and long before the usual period of ordinary business in our 
 towns ; it lasts also far into the " dewy eve." When merchants 
 
Curious Applications at the Post-office. 297 
 
 lock up their desks and offices, and complete their last round of 
 duties by posting their letters, the serious work of the Post-office 
 for the second time during the day, may be said to begin. The 
 hour before the despatch of the principal mail in any provincial 
 Post-office, thanks in great part to the dilatoriness of the public 
 in general, is an hour of busy activity, seldom witnessed in any 
 other branch of industry whatever. Almost at the same moment 
 the country mail-gigs from their different rides, mail-carts from 
 the local railway stations, the rural postmen from their walks, 
 and the receiving-house keepers from the outskirts of the town, 
 approach the post-office door, and speedily cause the office to 
 groan as it were under the weight of letters and bags. All the 
 force of the office is now engaged, and engaged with a will, if 
 the bags are to be ready for the London night-mail due from 
 Scotland at the railway station in sixty minutes. Again, the 
 same round of bag opening, checking, stamping (only now the 
 stamps must be obliterated, as the letters are about to be 
 despatched for the first time), and sorting, which we described 
 in the morning, is again repeated. The sorted letters are 
 examined, tied up in bundles of sixty or seventy each, and then 
 despatched in the bags received at the beginning of the day from 
 the London mail. The bags are tied, sealed, and hurried away 
 to the station. Now, at length, the postmaster and his staff 
 breathe freely. For a full hour they have been engaged as busily, 
 yet as silently, as so many bees in a hive ; " but now that the work 
 is finished, the thoughts of rogues, lovers, bankers, lawyers, clergy- 
 men, and shopkeepers ; the loves and griefs, the weal and woes, 
 of the town and country lie side by side, and for a few hours at 
 least will enjoy the most complete and secret companionship." 
 Every working day, and to some extent on Sunday, the same 
 routine of work is prescribed and accomplished with little 
 variation. 
 
 In all this consists the prose of Post-office life, but who shall 
 describe its poetry ? Scarcely a day passes in any of our provin- 
 cial post-offices without some incident occurring calculated to 
 surprise, amuse, or sadden. Very probably within a few minutes 
 one will have come to make a complaint that a certain letter or 
 letters ought to have arrived, and must have been kept back ; 
 
298 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 another will make an equally unreasonable request, or propound 
 some strange inquiry which the poor Post-office clerk is supposed 
 to be omniscient enough to answer. Most often, however, the 
 cases of inquiry disclose sorrowful facts, and all the consolation 
 which can be offered supposing that the clerk has any of "the 
 milk of human kindness " in him, a quality of mind or heart, much 
 too rare, we confess, in the Post-office service will most likely 
 be the consolation of hope. The official sees now and then brief 
 snatches of romance ; perhaps the beginning or the end, though 
 seldom the transaction throughout. Amusing circumstances are 
 often brought out by requests tendered at the Post-office, that 
 letters which have been posted may be returned to the writers. 
 A formal, but most essential rule, makes letters once posted the 
 property of the Postmaster-General until they are delivered as 
 addressed, and must not be given up to the writers on any 
 pretence whatever. One or two requests of this kind related 
 to us we are not likely soon to forget. On one occasion, a 
 gentlemanly-looking commercial traveller called at an office and 
 expressed a fear that he had enclosed two letters in wrong 
 envelopes, the addresses of which he furnished. It appeared 
 from the account which he reluctantly gave, after a refusal to 
 grant his request, that his position and prospects depended upon 
 his getting his letters, and correcting the mistakes, inasmuch 
 as they revealed plans which he had adopted to serve two 
 mercantile houses in the same line of business, whose interests 
 clashed at every point. He failed to get his letters, but we 
 hope he has retrieved himself, and is now serving one master 
 faithfully. 
 
 Another case occurred in which a fast young gentleman con- 
 fessed to carrying on a confidential correspondence with two 
 young ladies at the same time, and that he had, or feared he had, 
 crossed two letters which he had written at the same sitting. 
 We heartily hope a full exposure followed. Writing of this, we 
 are reminded of a case where a country postmaster had a letter 
 put into his hand through the office window, together with the 
 folJ owing message delivered with great emphasis : " Here's a 
 letter ; she wants it to go along as fast as it can, 'cause there's a 
 feller wants to have her here, and she's courted by another feller 
 that's not here, and she wants to know whether he is going to 
 
Official Secrecy. 299 
 
 have her or not." If the letter was as explicit as the verbal message 
 to which the postmaster involuntarily lent his ear, no doubt the 
 writer would not be long in suspense. These cases, however, are 
 uninteresting compared to one related by another postmaster. 
 A tradesman's daughter who had been for some time engaged to 
 a prosperous young draper in a neighbouring town, heard from 
 one whom she and her parents considered a creditable authority, 
 that he was on the verge of bankruptcy.. " Not a day was to be 
 lost in breaking the bond by which she and her small fortune 
 were linked to penury." A letter, strong and conclusive in its 
 language, was at once written and posted, when the same 
 informant called upon the young lady's friends to contradict and 
 explain his previous statement, which had arisen out of some 
 misunderstanding. " They rushed at once to the Post-office, and 
 no words can describe the scene ; the reiterated appeals, the 
 tears, the wringing of hands, the united entreaties of father, 
 mother, and daughter for the restoration of the fatal letter." But 
 the rule admitted of no exception, and the young lady had to 
 repent at leisure of her inordinate haste. 
 
 We have only space to close with a graphic extract from the 
 reminiscences of a Post-office official, in which the every-day life 
 of a country post-office is admirably described : " For the poor 
 we were often persuaded both to read and write their letters ; 
 and the Irish especially, with whom penmanship was a rare 
 accomplishment, seldom failed to succeed in their eloquent 
 petitions ; though no one can realize the difficulty of writing 
 from a Paddy's dictation, where ' the pratees, and the pig, and 
 the praiste, God bless him ! ' became involved in one long, per- 
 plexed sentence, without any period from beginning to end of 
 the letter. One such epistle, the main topic of which was an 
 extravagant lamentation over the death of a wife, rose to the 
 pathetic climax, * and now I'm obleeged to wash meself, and 
 bake meself !' " The officers of the Dead-letter Office could a 
 tale unfold, one would think, only an essential rule of the service 
 binds them to honourable secrecy. The Post-office official often, 
 however, and in spite of himself, learns more than he cares to 
 know. " For," as the writer continues, " a great deal can be 
 known from the outside of a letter, where there is no disposition 
 to pry into the enclosure. Who would not be almost satisfied 
 
300 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 with knowing all ,the correspondence coming to or leaving the 
 hands of the object of his interest ? From our long training 
 among the letters of our district, we knew the handwriting of 
 most persons so intimately, that no attempt at disguise, however 
 cunningly executed, could succeed with us. We noticed the 
 ominous lawyers' letters addressed to tradesmen whose circum- 
 stances were growing embarrassed ; and we saw the carefully 
 ill-written direction to the street in Liverpool and London, 
 where some poor fugitive debtor was in hiding. The evangelical 
 curate, who wrote in a disguised hand and under an assumed 
 name to the fascinating public singer, did not deceive us ; the 
 young man who posted a circular love-letter to three or four 
 girls the same night, never escaped our notice ; the wary maiden, 
 prudently keeping two strings to her bow, unconsciously de- 
 pended upon our good faith. The public never know how much 
 they owe to official secrecy and official honour, and how rarely 
 this confidence is betrayed. Petty tricks and artifices, small 
 dishonesties, histories of tyranny and suffering, exaggerations 
 and disappointments were thrust upon our notice. As if we 
 were the official confidants of the neighbourhood, we were 
 acquainted with the leading events in the lives of most of the 
 inhabitants." 
 
 Once more, " Never, surely, has any one a better chance of 
 seeing himself as others see him than a country postmaster. 
 Letters of complaint very securely enveloped and sealed passed 
 through our hands, addressed to the Postmaster-General, and 
 then came back to us for our own perusal and explanation. 
 One of our neighbours informed the Postmaster-General, in 
 confidence, that we were ' ignorant and stupid.' A clergyman 1 
 wrote a pathetic remonstrance, stating that he was so often 
 disappointed of his Morning Star and Dial, that he had come 
 
 1 It is matter of notoriety, furnishing a fruitful subject for reflection and 
 comment, that, excepting newsagents complaining of newspapers, the great 
 majority of complaints on miscellaneous matters reaching the Post-office 
 authorities take their rise with clergymen. As offering a curious commentary 
 on the Divine injunction to be merciful and to forgive " seventy times seven," 
 we once saw a requisition (and we have since been informed that this is no 
 uncommon occurrence) from a clergyman for the dismissal of a Post-office 
 clerk a man with a wife and several children on the ground that he had 
 twice caused his letters to be mis-sent, in each case losing the clerical corre- 
 spondent a post ! 
 
Official Secrecy. 301 
 
 to the conclusion that we disapproved of that paper for the 
 clergy, and for scruples of conscience, or political motives, 
 prevented it one of 400 passing daily through our office 
 from reaching his hands whenever there was anything we 
 considered objectionable in it." 
 
302 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON POSTAGE-STAMPS. 1 
 
 THE history of the postage-stamp presents very many interest- 
 ing and remarkable features. First used, as many of our readers 
 will remember, in May, 1840, it has only just passed out of its 
 years of minority, and yet, at this present moment, there are 
 about three thousand different varieties of the species in exist- 
 ence, and the number is increasing every month. Not only has 
 it penetrated into every civilized nation under heaven, and some 
 semi-barbarous countries, and even into the Ottoman Empire 
 where, strange as it may appear when viewed in the light 
 of Mohammedan usage, the Sultan has allowed his portrait to 
 appear on the new issues of Turkish stamps but the system of 
 prepayment, of which it may be deemed the visible expression, 
 is bringing it into use in our own and other countries as a 
 medium for railway and other carriers, and this to such an 
 extent that ere long it may come to lose its normal significance. 
 The question as to who invented the first plans for prepayment 
 of letters or newspapers, and the material for that prepayment, 
 would 'not be easily settled. As to who invented the postage- 
 stamp, as a medium for prepayment of letters, there cannot now 
 be much doubt. Post-paid envelopes were in use in France 
 as early as the reign of Louis XIV. 2 Pelisson states that they 
 originated in 1653, with a M. de Velayer, who established, 
 under royal authority, a private post in Paris, placing boxes at 
 
 1 We regret that in the first edition of this work we have been led into 
 several inaccuracies both as regards the history of the stamp, and its present 
 manufacture. Through the kindness of Sir Rowland Hill we have been 
 directed to sources of additional information which place the correctness of 
 the facts of this re- written chapter beyond reasonable question; while, thanks 
 to one of his nephews, Mr. Ormond Hill, the Assistant Controller of the 
 Stamp-office, we have been enabled to witness the operation of stamp-making, 
 and to have the benefit of his clear and interesting explanations. 
 
 2 1'ournier. 
 
Stamped Newspaper Covers. 303 
 
 the corners of the streets for the reception of letters, which were 
 to be wrapped up in certain envelopes. These envelopes, some 
 of which are still extant, had no device or design upon them, 
 but simply some printed instructions. 1 Shopkeepers in the 
 immediate neighbourhood sold the envelopes at the price of 
 one sou. The envelopes or tickets were attached to the letters, 
 or wrapped round them in such a manner that the postman 
 could remove and retain them on delivering the letters. 
 
 In England, the first proposals for a kind of stamp or stamped 
 cover were made in relation to newspapers. On June 20th, 
 1836, Mr. Spring Rice (now Lord Monteagle) proposed the 
 reduction of the stamp duty on newspapers from fourpence to 
 one penny. It was strenuously opposed by the Opposition, 
 many arguments, especially one that the Post-office work would 
 be so increased that it could not be accomplished, being ad- 
 vanced by the Tory party. In one of the previous discussions, 
 viz. May, 1834, Mr. Mathew D. Hill, then member for Hull, 
 referred to a proposal made to Lord Althorp by Mr. Charles 
 Knight, where he suggested that the new postage on newspapers 
 might be collected by selling stamped wrappers at one penny 
 each. Mr. Charles Whiting seems to have made a somewhat 
 similar suggestion before the reduction of the rate for news- 
 papers. 2 Mr. Whiting, according to Mr. W. H. Ashurst, 3 made 
 his proposal for the stamped envelopes or "go frees," in order 
 to defeat the then too common system of evasion in the manner 
 of addressing the newspapers, where all kinds of changes were 
 rung in the words constituting the address. 4 Mr. Whiting's 
 proposals were never taken up. Mr. Knight's fared somewhat 
 better, though not in the way he intended. Mr. Hill determined 
 to turn his proposal to account in the development of his plans. 
 Mr. Hill had decided for prepayment of letters as one of the 
 main features of his new scheme, and although money payments 
 
 1 This simple expedient is doubtless what Mr. Smiles refers to in one of his 
 admirable books, Industrial Biography, p. 177 : " Even the invention of the 
 penny-postage system," says Mr. Smiles, " by Sir Rowland Hill is disputed 
 ... a French writer alleging it to be an old French invention." Surely, 
 Mr. Smiles might have soon learnt that the " penny-postage system," and the 
 system of prepayment, or even the invention of the postage stamp are vastly 
 different things. 
 
 2 Report of Select Committee of Post ape, vol. iv. p. 391. 
 
 3 Facts frc. in support of Mr. Hill's Plan, p. 40. Note. 
 * Vide London and Westminster Renew, 1S35. 
 
304 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 over the counter were first proposed, he afterwards came to the 
 conclusion that a kind of stamp or stamped cover for letters, 
 such as had been proposed for newspapers, would much better 
 serve the purposes of the public and the Post-office. Mr. Hill 
 carefully elaborated the details of the proposal before the Com- 
 missioners of Post-office Inquiry in 1837, and a careful perusal 
 of their Ninth Report will satisfy any reasonable mind as to the 
 fact of the first suggestion of the postage-stamp. There Mr. Hill 
 in plain and unmistakable language 1 not only speaks of its 
 practicability as a means of prepayment, but says how it may 
 be manufactured, even to the gumming, and its position on the 
 envelope. Mr. Hill's own account before the Commissioners of 
 the origin of the suggestion is quite decisive of itself. It is 
 satisfactory, however, to find that Mr. Charles Knight now gives 
 in his recent interesting work 2 an account identical with that 
 alluded to. After referring to Mr. Knight's proposal, Mr. Hill 
 went on to say, u availing myself of this excellent suggestion, I 
 propose the following arrangement : 
 
 (1) That stamped covers or sheets of paper, or small vignette stamps the 
 latter, if used, to be gummed on the face of the letter to be supplied to the 
 public from the stamp-office, and sold at such a price as to include the postage. 
 Letters so stamped to be treated in all respects as franks. 
 
 (2) That as covers at various prices would be required for packets of 
 various weights, eacli should have the weight it is entitled to carry legibly 
 printed with the stamp. 
 
 (3) That the stamp of the receiving-house should be struck upon the 
 superscription or duty stamp, to prevent the latter being used a second time. 
 
 (4) The vignette stamps being portable, persons could carry them in their 
 pocket-books." 
 
 These were the principal features and the most striking parts of 
 the new plan. We have seen in an earlier stage of this volume 
 how the Commissioners of Post-office Inquiry, and also the 
 Committee of Postage of 1837-8, had the matter under their 
 consideration, and how both the boards came to a favourable 
 resolution on the subject. When the Government brought in 
 
 1 Ninth Report, p. 33. Dr. J.E. Gray, of the British Museum, has of late 
 claimed the credit of having: suggested that letters should be prepaid with 
 stamps as early as 1834. His claims cannot be substantiated on documentary 
 evidence, and therefore rest on no such solid foundation as those of Sir 
 Rowland Hill. 
 
 2 Autobiography of a World/iff Life, vol. ii. p. 249. 
 
Various Proposals were made. 305 
 
 and carried the Penny Postage Act, a clause for their use formed 
 a component part of it. 
 
 Though it was agreed on all hands that stamps, or stamped 
 paper of some sort, should come into use with the advent of 
 cheap postage, it was by no ni$ans easy to hit upon a definite 
 plan, or when a number of plans were submitted to decide upon 
 the particular ones to be adopted. Stamped paper representing 
 different charges was first suggested. Folded in a particular 
 way, a simple revenue stamp would then be exposed to view, and 
 frank the letter. Stamped paper met with its advocates in the 
 mercantile and legal world, and, on account of the body of the 
 letter being in the case of envelopes separate from the address, 
 and there being thus no proof of the letter having been written 
 to the person professing to receive it, it was, and is still in some 
 quarters, made a point of legal consequence that nothing but a 
 sheet of paper shall be used. Another suggestion was that a 
 stamped wafer, as it was called, should be used, and, placed on 
 the back of a letter, seal and frank it at the same time. One 
 gentleman went to the extent of taking out a patent for a 
 stamped wafer, under the title of " Bogardus's improved means of 
 applying labels, stamps, or marks to letters, &c." * The idea of 
 stamped envelopes, however, was at first by far the most popular, 
 and some argued that they should form the only prepaying 
 medium. Mr. Dickenson, the paper maker, for instance, wanted 
 nothing but stamped envelopes, and he attacked at great length 
 both stamped letter-paper and adhesive stamps. 2 It was even- 
 tually decided that the postage-stamp and the stamped envelope 
 should both be used ; and plans and suggestions for the carrying 
 out of the arrangement being required, so that the Government 
 might have all the details of the new plan ready by the close of 
 the year, the Lords of the Treasury issued a proclamation, dated 
 August 23d, 1839, inviting " all artists, men of science, and the 
 public in general," to offer proposals " as to the manner in which 
 the stamp may best be brought into use." So important was the 
 subject considered, that Lord Palmerston, the then Foreign 
 Secretary, apprised foreign Governments of the matter, and in- 
 vited suggestions from any part of the civilized world. Three 
 
 1 Specification of Patents, 26th Aug. 1839, No. 8208. 
 
 2 Ninth Report, 183?. 
 
306 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 months were allowed for plans, and two prizes of 200Z. and 100Z. 
 were offered for proposals on the subject, " which my lords 
 may think most deserving of attention." The response was 
 ample. Nearly three thousand plans for the two objects were 
 sent to the Treasury. For the envelopes the design sent in by 
 the late Mr. Mulready, Royal Academician, was chosen. The 
 design was engraved in wood by Mr. John Thomson. 1 Mul- 
 ready's envelopes, which allegorically celebrated the triumphs 
 of the post in a host of emblematical figures, were of two 
 colours, the one for a penny being printed in black, and the 
 other, for the twopenny postage, in blue ink. They gave little 
 satisfaction, however, and at the end of six months were with- 
 drawn from use. There was little room left on the envelope for 
 the address. They left to the common and vulgar gaze, as Miss 
 Martineau, we believe, points out, emotions of the mind which 
 had always best be kept in the background ; and instead " of 
 spreading a taste for high art," which had been hoped, they 
 brought it into considerable ridicule. 2 
 
 The postage-stamp, though it has passed through many trans- 
 formations, has had a different history, and turned out a most 
 decided success. More than a thousand designs were offered, 
 the conditions being that it should be simple, handy, and easily 
 placed upon paper, and of such a nature as would make forgery 
 difficult, if not impossible. The original stamp was designed 
 by Messrs. Bacon and Fetch, and was engraved on a steel die 
 by Mr. Charles Heath. 3 The portrait of the queen is said to 
 have been taken from Wyon's City Medal by a drawing by Mr. 
 Henry Corbould. The stamp was at first printed in black, but 
 two years afterwards the colour was changed to brown, princi- 
 
 1 " Mulready's original design," says Mr. Burn, in the Stamp Collectors 
 Magazine for June, 1864, "a pencilled outline drawing, with an impression 
 from Thomson's wood block, sold at the artist's sale on the 28th April, 1864, 
 for twenty guineas." 
 
 2 The Mulready envelopes are now regarded as great curiosities by stamp 
 collectors, and us their value had risen during the past few years to as high as 
 fifteen shillings, a spurious imitation soon found its way into the market, 
 usually to be had at half a crown. In 1862, stamp dealers were shocked by 
 the Vandalism of the Government, who caused, it is said, many thousands of 
 these envelopes to be destroyed at Somerset House. We do not vouch, how- 
 ever, for the truth of the report. 
 
 3 Committee of Inquiry (Archer's) 1852. Minutes of Evidence, 1007-S, 
 1692. From this die which cost sixty guineas all the plates used subse- 
 quently for penny stamps have been derived. 
 
Mr. Henry Archer. 307 
 
 pally with a view to make the obliterating process more perfect, 
 and the better to detect the dishonest practices of those who 
 used old stamps. For the same reason, mainly, the colour was 
 soon afterwards changed to red, and so it has remained to the 
 present time. The twopenny stamp has been from the first blue. 
 The contract for printing and supplying sufficient quantities of 
 the penny and twopenny stamps was made in 1840 with the 
 gentlemen who had originally designed them. On the 13th of 
 April, 1840, Messrs. Bacon and Fetch contracted for one year 
 to print the stamps in sheets, each containing 240 stamps, and 
 also to gum them on the back, for the sum of sevenpence-half- 
 penny per thousand stamps. This firm, now Messrs. Perkins, 
 Bacon, and Co. has had the contract ever since up to the present 
 time, every year producing a greater number of stamps. In 1 85 1 , 
 Mr. Archer offering to print, gum, and perforate all the stamps 
 required at fivepence per thousand stamps, Messrs. Bacon and 
 Fetch lowered their price to that sum, obtaining a five years' 
 contract, and we believe this is the basis of the existing engage- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. Archer offered to furnish the stamps at a still cheaper 
 rate if the Government would allow him to print them on the 
 surface principle which has been adopted from the first in 
 France and Belgium instead of copper-plate engraving. This 
 offer was not accepted, and the principle is unchanged as regards 
 the cheaper kind of stamps. This leads us, however, to speak 
 of the other English stamps, which at different intervals have 
 been produced. Up to this date six higher-priced stamps have 
 been issued, as the necessities of the inland or foreign postage 
 required them. The tenpenny stamp, of an octagonal shape and 
 brown colour, is now scarcely ever used. The other five issues 
 comprise the sixpenny (lilac), the shilling (green), the fourpenny 
 (vermilion), the threepenny (rose), and the ninepenny (yellow). 
 The last two were issued only three or four years ago. The 
 whole of these stamps are supplied by Messrs De la Eue and Co. 
 under contract to the Government, as in the case of Messrs. 
 Perkins, Bacon, and Co., 1 but they are all printed on the cheaper 
 and simpler principle of surface printing. The whole of the 
 
 1 These firms are also the principal houses for the manufacture of colonial 
 stamps. 
 
 x2 
 
308 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 English labels bear the impression of the head of our Queen, 1 
 and are all of the same size and shape (if we except the ten- 
 penny stamp), the sole difference being in the colour, and in the 
 various borderings round Her Majesty's very untrue portrait. 
 Besides these distinguishing marks, however, they all tell the 
 tale of their own value. 
 
 Though the Mulready envelopes were condemned, others of 
 a simpler appearance, though difficult manufacture, were brought 
 into use. On the right-hand corner of a common envelope a 
 stamp was embossed by the Government authorities, the shape 
 oval or round, and differently coloured according to the value of 
 the envelope, and this, passed through the post, served the same 
 purposes as the postage-stamp. 2 For the envelopes themselves 
 a peculiar kind of paper, which attracted considerable attention 
 at the time, was prepared by Mr. Dickenson, and was considered 
 on all hands as a complete preventative against forgery. This 
 paper, which was manufactured with lines of thread or silk 
 stretched through its substance, was discontinued some years 
 ago as unnecessary. The penny- stamped envelopes, convenient 
 and handy as they are, are scarcely used so much as it was 
 expected they would be the demand for them varying very 
 little year by year. The manufacture of the twopenny enve- 
 lopes are almost entirely, if not quite, discontinued. The stamps 
 themselves are embossed on the envelopes at Somerset House, 
 but all the other operations connected with their manufacture 
 are performed under contract by Messrs. De la Eue, and Co. 
 The paper, for instance, is cut into proper shapes by this firm, 
 sent to the Stamp Department to be ornamented with an 
 impression of the Queen's head, and then returned to the con- 
 tractors to be folded and gummed. The envelopes are finally 
 returned to Somerset House in packets ready for distribution to 
 the public. 
 
 The Stamp Department of Somerset House affords every 
 
 1 Some of our colonies adopt different designs, but they are all gradually 
 adopting the English plan of a simple profile of the sovereign. The portrait 
 of our Qfueen appears on two hundred and fifty varieties of stamps. 
 
 2 Again the legal argument was used, which led to half sheets of paper 
 (made on the same principle as the envelopes) being issued with the stamp at 
 one corner. Directions were given as to the folding of the paper. It was 
 only, however, after great trouble that the paper could be properly folded so 
 as to show the stamp. 
 
Perforation of the Stamps. 309 
 
 facility in the matter of stamped paper and envelopes, and 
 private individuals may indulge their tastes to almost any 
 extent. An embossed stamp will be placed on any paper or 
 envelope, or any number of them, that may be forwarded, 
 provided that certain well-defined regulations be attended to. 
 These regulations may be learnt either at the Post-office or 
 Stamp-office, or by consulting the British Postal Guide. Nine 
 persons or trading firms have chosen to have their names or 
 designations printed round the embossed stamp, as a border to 
 it. This is supposed to serve as an advertisement. 
 
 For a number of years the stamps had to be separated from 
 each other in the sheet by knives or scissors, and the difficulty 
 and annoyance of this arrangement will be remembered by most 
 readers. Hence arose the proposal for a perforating machine, 
 originally made by Mr. Henry Archer. Mr. Archer, who was an 
 Irishman, and who had previously been managing director of a 
 railway in Wales, proposed a machine in 1847 to the Marquis of 
 Clanricarde, then Postmaster-General, which the former thought 
 might be made to pierce the sheet of stamps with holes, so 
 that each stamp might be torn apart. Meeting with encourage- 
 ment from the Post-office, Archer had a machine constructed, 
 but it was not successful, till, in his third attempt, he contrived 
 to make his machine punch out the globules or pieces of paper 
 round each stamp. The Lords of the Treasury thereupon offered 
 Archer some remuneration for his invention, but it seems to 
 have been so inadequate, even to reimburse him of his expenses, 
 that he refused it, and soon afterwards appealed to the House 
 of Commons. Mr. Muntz, the then member for Birmingham, 
 took up Archer's case very warmly, and the result was the 
 appointment of a Committee to investigate it, as well as an offer 
 made by Archer to print the stamps on the surface* principle. 
 The Committee, over which Mr. Muntz was appointed chairman, 
 consisted of Mr. Spooner, Mr. Gore, Mr. Geach, Mr. Hodgson, 
 Mr. Grogaii, Mr. Rich, Mr. Drummond, Mr. J. Greene, Sir 
 John Tyrrell, and the Marquis of Chandos. The Committee sat 
 during the months of March and April, 1852, and in their 
 deliberations, which are printed, any one interested in the 
 question of postage-stamps will find much information of great 
 value and interest. 1 In pursuance of a recommendation from 
 1 Committee oil, Mr. Archer'' s claims, 1852. 
 
310 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 this Committee, Mr. Archer's machine, which he had patented, 
 was purchased from him for the sum of ^OOOZ. 1 The patent 
 itself was sufficiently cheap, not so much for the intrinsic value 
 of the machine as for that to which it led. It was found nearly 
 unworkable in practice, but the improvements brought about 
 in the original by Mr. Edwin Hill, the controller of the Stamp 
 Department who, in conjunction with his son, has produced 
 nearly all the machines in use for different purposes in that 
 busy hive of industry have made it answer all present require- 
 ments. 2 The same Committee could not decide, they said, on 
 " the conflicting evidence," whether copper-plate engraving or 
 surface printing would best secure the stamps against forgery, 
 but they considered that the application of the skilful and inge- 
 nious perforating machine would do much to prevent forgery, 
 whichever system was used, " inasmuch as it would be exceed- 
 ingly difficult to counterfeit the sheets, and sheets badly done 
 would at once excite suspicion when offered for sale." 
 
 The perforation of the sheets of stamps is the last process under- 
 gone before they are ready for sale. All the different kinds of 
 stamps are perforated at the Stamp-office, whether printed at De 
 la Rue's or Perkins and Co.'s. The embossing of stamps on paper 
 intended for envelopes, and impressing the newspaper stamp on 
 the tons of blank newspaper paper sent in from the different pub- 
 lishers, form the bulk of the stamping processes done at Somer- 
 set House. The entire establishment, which is a separate branch 
 of the Inland Revenue Department, is partly kept up by the 
 Post-office, which contributes about 30,000?. a year to the 
 expenses of management. 
 
 With regard to the different processes through which the ordi- 
 nary penny stamp passes in its manufacture, little is known out of 
 the workshops, and for obvious reasons, it has never been thought 
 desirable to publish any detailed account of their manufacture. 
 Of course, much can be gathered from a minute inspection of a 
 sheet of stamps. In addition, we may say simply, that about 
 twenty presses, worked by a high class of workmen, are kept con- 
 stantly going to provide postage stamps enough for the require- 
 
 1 Abstract of Grants for Miscellaneous Services. Sums voted in supply 
 from 1835 to 1863, moved for by Sir H. Willougliby. 
 
 2 Archer's own machine has been laid aside for several years. Mr. Archer 
 died at Pau, Trance, April 2d, 1863. 
 
The Forgery of Postage Stamps. 311 
 
 ments of the age. The paper upon which the stamps are printed is 
 of a peculiar make, manufactured, we believe, in Northampton- 
 shire, each sheet having a watermark of two hundred and forty 
 crowns, or one for each stamp of the sheet. The sheet after being 
 damped is fixed with minute accuracy to the copper-plate, which 
 is then inked by rollers as in letter-press printing. The plates 
 themselves are engraved with great care, by transferring from 
 the original die as a parent source ; some figures are afterwards 
 engraved on the plates by hand. The ink, of a peculiar red 
 colour (made by the firm themselves for the purpose), is made 
 to fill the interstices in the plate by being rubbed smoothly over 
 its surface ; and this process, of course, gives the well-known 
 colour to the sheet of penny stamps. After the sheets are 
 pressed and dried, they are carefully gummed, and sent to 
 Somerset House. We may here just add, that the adhesive 
 matter with which the back of the stamp is covered is most 
 harmless in its nature, and the stamp may be affixed to the 
 letter in any way the writer chooses without the most remote 
 fear of the consequences. The two ingredients used for the 
 purpose are of the most simple and even nutritious character. 
 
 Great precaution is taken, in all the different stages of the 
 manufacture of the stamp, to provide against forgery. All the 
 lines and marks and there are more marks about the stamp 
 than the casual observer is likely to see the beautiful engine- 
 turned border, as well as the initial letters in the corner, are 
 arranged so as to make the whole affair inimitable. The best 
 preservative, however, in our opinion, against a spurious article, 
 is the arrangement under which stamps are sold. Only obtain- 
 able in any large quantity from the Stamp or Post-offices, any 
 attempt on the part of the forger to put a base article into cir- 
 culation is encumbered with difficulties. Stamps, while they 
 do duty for coin, are used almost exclusively for small transac- 
 tions, and generally among people well known to each other. 
 Other precautions are, nevertheless, very necessary ; and besides 
 the initial letters on each stamp different in every one of the 
 two hundred and forty in the sheet which are regarded as so 
 many checks on the forger, this pest to society would have to 
 engrave his own die, and cast his own blocks, and find a drilling- 
 machine, perhaps the most difficult undertaking of all. The 
 
312 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 paper, besides, would be a considerable obstacle, and not less so 
 the ink, for that used in this manufacture differs from ordinary 
 printer's ink, not merely in colour, but in being soluble in 
 water. 
 
 When postage-stamps were first introduced in England, it 
 was little thought that they would become a -medium of ex- 
 change, and far less that they would excite such a furore among 
 stamp collectors. The same stamp may do duty in a number of 
 various ways before it serves its normal purpose. It may have 
 proceeded through the post a dozen times imbedded within the 
 folds of a letter, before it becomes affixed to one, and gets its 
 career ended by an ugly knock on the face for its countenance 
 once disfigured, it has run its course. Besides their being so 
 handy in paying a trifling debt or going on a merciful errand, 
 the advertising columns of any newspaper will show the reader 
 many of the thousand and one ways in which he may turn his 
 spare postage stamps to account. You may suddenly fall upon 
 a promise of an easy competence for the insignificant acknow- 
 ledgment of half-a-crown's worth of this article. Friends to 
 humanity assure you a prompt remittance of thirteen Queen's 
 heads will secure you perfect exemption from all the ills that 
 flesh is heir to. For the same quantity another, who does the 
 prophetic strain, will tell you which horse will win the Derby, 
 " as surely as if you stood at the winning-post on the very day." 
 " Stable Boy," promises all subscribers of twelve stamps that if 
 they " do not win on this event, he will never put his name in 
 print again." Of course all this is quackery, or worse ; still the 
 reader need not be told how in innumerable bond fide cases the 
 system of postage-stamp remittances is exceedingly handy for 
 both buyer and vendor, and how trade retail at any rate is 
 fostered by it. As a social arrangement, for the poorer classes 
 especially, we could not well over-estimate its usefulness. Again 
 we see a good result of the penny-post scheme. Since 1840, not 
 only has the use of postage-stamps in this way never been dis- 
 couraged (as it was always thought that fewer coin letters would 
 be sent in consequence), but the Post-office authorities have 
 recently made provision for taking them from the public, when 
 not soiled, or not presented in single stamps. In America, as 
 will be familiar to most readers, postage-stamps have formed 
 
Obliteration of Stamps. 313 
 
 the principal currency of small value almost since the breaking 
 out of the present fratricidal war. More recently, the United 
 States Government has issued the stamps without gum, as it 
 was found inconvenient to pass them frequently from hand to 
 hand after they had undergone the gelatinizing process. Under 
 an Act, "Postage Currency, July 17th, 1862," the Federal 
 authorities have issued stamps printed on larger sized paper, 
 with directions for their use under the peculiar circumstances. 
 
 The obliteration of postage-labels in their passage through 
 the post requires a passing notice. Different countries obliterate 
 their stamps variously, and with different objects. In France 
 they obliterate with a hand-stamp having acute prominences in 
 it, which, when thrown on the stamp, not only disfigures, but 
 perforates it with numerous dots placed closely together. In 
 Holland, the word "Franco" is imprinted in large letters. Some 
 countries, e.g. Italy, Austria, and Prussia, mark, on the label 
 itself, the name of the despatching town, together with the date 
 of despatch. In England, the purpose of the defacement marks 
 is primarily to prevent the stamp being used again. It also 
 serves to show inasmuch as the obliterating stamp of every 
 British Post-office is consecutively numbered where the letter 
 was posted, in the event of the other dated stamp being imper- 
 fectly impressed. The mark of St. Martin's-le-Grand is a change- 
 able figure in a circle, according to the time of day during which 
 the letter has been posted and struck ; for the London district 
 offices we have the initials of the district, and the number of 
 the office given in an oval. The figures in England are sur- 
 rounded by lines forming a circle ; in Scotland by three lines 
 at the top and three at the bottom of them ; in Ireland the 
 lines surround the figures of the particular office in a diamond 
 shape. 
 
 It only remains to refer for a moment to the timbromanie, or 
 stamp mania. The scenes in Birchin Lane in 1862, where 
 crowds nightly congregated, to the exceeding annoyance and 
 wonder of the uninitiated where ladies and gentlemen of all 
 ages and all ranks, from Cabinet-ministers to crossing-sweepers, 
 were busy, with album or portfolio in hand, buying, selling, or 
 exchanging, are now known to have been the beginnings of what 
 may almost be termed a new trade. Postage-stamp exchanges are 
 
314 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 now common enough ; one held in Lombard Street on Saturday 
 afternoons is, or was, largely attended. Looking the other day 
 in the advertisement pages of a monthly magazine, we counted 
 no fewer than sixty different dealers in postage-stamps there 
 advertising their wares. Two years ago, there was no regular 
 mart in London at which foreign stamps might be bought ; now 
 there are dozens of regular dealers in the metropolis, who are 
 doing a profitable trade. About three years ago, we witnessed the 
 establishment of a monthly organ for the trade in the Stamp- 
 collector's Magazine ; at this present moment there are no less 
 than seven such publications in existence in the United King- 
 dom. England is not the only country interested in stamp- 
 collecting. As might be expected, the custom originated in 
 France, and has prevailed there for a number of years. In the 
 gardens of the Tuileries, and also to some extent in those of the 
 Luxembourg, crowds still gather, principally on Sunday after- 
 noons, and may be seen sitting under the trees, sometimes in a state 
 of great excitement, as they busily sell or exchange any of theiv 
 surplus stock for some of which they may have been in search. 
 The gathering of a complete set of postage-stamps, and a proper 
 arrangement of them, is at least a harmless and innocent amuse- 
 ment. On this point, however, we prefer, in conclusion, to let 
 Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, speak, 1 and our readers to 
 judge for themselves. " The use and charm of collecting any 
 kind of object is to educate the mind and the eye to careful 
 observation, accurate comparison, and just reasoning on the 
 differences and likenesses which they present, and to interest 
 the collector in the design or art shown in their creation or 
 manufacture, and the history of the country which produces 
 or uses the objects collected. The. postage-stamps afford good 
 objects for all these branches of study, as they are sufficiently 
 different to present broad outlines for their classification ; and 
 yet some of the variations are so slight, that they require minute 
 examination and comparison to prevent them, from being over- 
 looked. The fact of obtaining stamps from so many countries, 
 suggests to ask what were the circumstances that induced the 
 adoption, the history of the countries which issue them, and the 
 understanding why some countries (like France) have considered 
 1 Hand Caidocjite of Postage-Stamps, Introduction, p. 5. 
 
The Stamp Mania. 315 
 
 it necessary, in so few years, to make so many changes in the 
 form or design of the stamp used ; while other countries, like 
 Holland, have never made the slightest change. 
 
 " The changes referred to all mark some historical event of 
 importance such as the accession of a new king, a change in the 
 form of government, or the absorption of some smaller state into 
 some larger one ; a change in the currency, or some other revolu- 
 tion. Hence a collection of postage-stamps may be considered, 
 like a collection of coins, an epitome of the history of Europe 
 and America for the last quarter of a century ; and at the same 
 time, as they exhibit much variation in design and in execution, 
 as a collection of works of art on a small scale, showing the style 
 of art of the countries that issue them, while the size of the 
 collection, and the number in which they are arranged and kept, 
 will show the industry, taste, and neatness of the collector." 
 
3 1 6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POST-OFFICE SAVINGS' BANKS, AND GOVERNMENT INSURANCES 
 AND ANNUITIES. 
 
 THE idea of Savings' Banks for the industrial classes was first 
 started at the commencement of the present century. They 
 are said to owe their origin to the Rev. Joseph Smith, of 
 Wendover, who in 1799 circulated proposals among his poorer 
 parishioners to receive any of their spare sums during the 
 summer, and return the amounts at the Christmas following. 
 To the original sum, Mr. Smith proposed to add one-third of 
 the whole amount, as a reward for the forethought of the 
 depositor. This rate of interest, ruinous to the projector, proves 
 that the transactions must have been of small extent, and 
 charity a large element in the work. The first savings' bank 
 really answering to the name was established at Tottenham, 
 Middlesex, in 1804, by some benevolent people in the place, 
 and called the Charitable Bank. Five per cent, interest was 
 allowed to depositors, though for many years this rate was a 
 great drain on the benevolence of the founders. In 1817, these 
 banks had increased in England and Wales to the number of 
 seventy-four. During that year Acts of Parliament were passed 
 offering every encouragement to such institutions, and making 
 arrangements to take all moneys deposited, and place them in 
 the public funds. From 1804 to 1861, the savings' banks of 
 the United Kingdom increased to 638. 
 
 A reference to the various deficiencies of the old banks for 
 savings, and the steps which led to the formation of those now 
 under consideration, will not be out of place here. We have 
 said that, in the early part of this century, successive Govern- 
 ments offered every inducement and facility to the savings' bank 
 scheme. Such encouragement was indispensable to their success. 
 When first started, Government granted interest to the trustees 
 at the rate of 4JZ. per cent. This rate, reduced to 4Z. as the 
 
Frauds in old Savings' Banks. 317 
 
 banks became more established, now stands at 31. 5s. per cent. 
 Of this sum depositors receive 3L per cent. ; the difference 
 paying the expenses of management. The encouragement which 
 the Legislature has given to the savings' banks of the country 
 since their commencement, has entailed a loss of about four and 
 a half millions sterling on the public exchequer. From 1817 to 
 1841, a loss of nearly two millions sterling had been incurred, 
 by reason of the rate of interest which was allowed by Govern- 
 ment being greater than that yielded by the securities in which 
 the deposits had been invested. 
 
 Savings' banks have suffered most severely from frauds in the 
 management, and the feeling of insecurity which these frauds 
 have engendered from time to time has gone far to mar their 
 usefulness. Government is only responsible to the trustees for 
 the amounts actually placed in its hands. The law, previous to 
 1844, gave the depositor a remedy against the trustees in case 
 of wilful neglect or default. In 1844, the Legislature thought 
 right to make a most important change in the law, by which 
 trustees of savings' banks were released from all liability, except 
 where it was voluntarily assumed. It remains a most significant 
 fact, that all the great frauds with this class of banks have 
 occurred since that date. We have, indeed, to thank only the 
 influential gentlemen, who, as a rule, take upon themselves the 
 management of savings' banks, that such cases have been so 
 rare as they have. 1 The known frauds in savings' banks are 
 calculated to have swallowed up a quarter of a million of hard- 
 earned money. The fraud in the Cuffe Street bank in Dublin 
 amounted to 56,OOOZ. ; the Tralee bank stopped payment in 
 1848 with liabilities to depositors to the extent of 36,768Z. 
 and only 1,660Z. of available assets ; in the same year, the 
 Killarney savings' bank stopped with liabilities of 36,OOOZ. and 
 assets of only half that amount. About the same time, the 
 Kochdale bank frauds became known, and losses to the extent 
 of 40,000?. were the result. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the state of the law is still most 
 
 1 The case of a fraud of this kind was mentioned by Lord Monteagle when 
 the Post-office Savings' Bank Bill was before the Lords. In a Hertfordshire 
 savings' bank, a deficiency of 10,000/. was discovered, and the entire amount 
 was subscribed by nine of the trustees, who were noblemen and gentlemen in 
 the neighbourhood. 
 
318 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 anomalous, and that the great majority of the people of this 
 country are under the impression that there is Government 
 security for each deposit in every savings' bank. Year by 
 year, changes have been proposed in the Legislature for giving 
 more security to depositors, but the body of managers have 
 hitherto been successful in their opposition. Whilst legislation 
 is thus deferred, the risks to the provident poor still continue. 
 In the report of a Government Commission appointed during 
 one of these annual discussions " on the savings of the middle 
 and working classes," several well-known authorities in such 
 matters, such as Mr. J. Stuart Mill, and Mr. Bellenden Kerr, 
 expressed decided opinions of the insecurity of savings' bank 
 deposits. Mr. J. Malcolm Ludlow spoke to the feeling of the 
 working-classes themselves : " I should say the great reason 
 why the working-classes turn away from savings' banks, is the 
 feeling of insecurity so largely prevailing amongst them." 
 
 Mr. J. S. Mill, when asked for any suggestion on the subject, 
 said : " I think it would be very useful to provide some scheme 
 to make the nation responsible for all amounts deposited. Cer- 
 tainly the general opinion among the depositors is, that the 
 nation is responsible ; they are not aware that they have only 
 the responsibility of the trustees to rely upon." 
 
 Some change, or some new system, had long been regarded as 
 absolutely necessary. In 1861, the number of savings' banks 
 on the old plan was 638 ; yet out of this number there were no 
 less than fourteen counties in the United Kingdom without a 
 bank at all. Even in England, when the test was applied to 
 towns, all, for instance, containing upwards of 10,000 inhabi- 
 tants, it was found that there were one hundred and fifty without 
 savings' bank accommodation of any sort. Nor was this all. 
 Even where savings' banks already existed, 355 were open only 
 once a week, and that for a few hours ; some twice a week ; 54 
 once a fortnight ; but very few only twenty, in fact were 
 open for a few hours every day. When, added to this want of 
 accommodation and absence of facility, we remember the un- 
 satisfactory state of the law concerning them, there can be no 
 wonder that public attention was drawn to the subject from 
 time to time. So early as 1807, Mr. Whitbread introduced a 
 Bill into the House of Commons to make the Money-order office 
 
Proposals for Postal Banks. 319 
 
 at the Post-office available for collecting sums from all parts of 
 the kingdom, and transmitting them to a central bank, which 
 should be established in London. It is curious to find that 
 Mr. Whitbread's proposals included also the establishment of 
 a Government Assurance Office on the same basis, and to be 
 worked in the same way. At that time, however, the Money- 
 order department of the Post-office had not arrived at the state 
 of efficiency to which it subsequently attained, and for this, 
 or some other equally valid reason, the Bill was withdrawn. 
 Twenty years afterwards, a writer in the Quarterly Review, an 
 organ which has never been prominent in initiating great 
 reforms, took up Mr. Whitbread's suggestions, and turned them 
 to account in an article on the substitution of savings' banks for 
 poor-laws. 1 The principle advocated was that masters should 
 compulsorily deduct payments from the wages of their servants, 
 and put them into a national savings' bank. " Perhaps these 
 remittances," says the writer, "might, especially in rural dis- 
 tricts, be allowed to be paid into the nearest Post-office, and 
 remitted with its own money to the General Post-office, by 
 whom it might be paid over to the Commissioners of the 
 National Debt." All proposals of ihe kind shared an equal 
 fate till the matter was seized upon by Mr. Gladstone, and 
 carried by the aid of his ingenuity and eloquence to a success- 
 ful issue. In 1860, Mr. Sykes, of Huddersfield, addressed the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer on the deficiencies of the existing 
 system. Through his practical acquaintance with the old plan 
 of working, he was able to demonstrate that increased facilities 
 for depositing at any time, and in convenient places, were great 
 desiderata amongst the poorer classes. The same facilities were 
 necessary for withdrawing deposits. Mr. Sykes proposed that 
 a bank for savings should be opened at every Money-order 
 office in the kingdom ; that each postmaster should be autho- 
 rized to receive deposits ; and that all the offices should have 
 immediate connexion with a central bank in London. The 
 general principle of this scheme was seen to be useful and prac- 
 ticable, and it was referred to the Post-office authorities. Some 
 of Mr. Sykes's proposals for working the scheme were at once 
 seen to be unsatisfactory. He proposed that all payments and 
 1 Quarterly Review, October 1827, p. 489. 
 
320 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 withdrawals should be severally effected by means of money- 
 orders, to be drawn for each separate undertaking ; but the 
 difficulties which presented themselves in the complexity and 
 confusion of such an arrangement promised to be insurmount- 
 able. Mr. Sykes proposed that no deposit should be less in 
 amount than twenty shillings. This arrangement, again, would 
 have gone far to negative the merits of the whole plan, and 
 especially to interfere with its usefulness amongst the classes 
 which the measure was really intended to benefit. After con- 
 siderable discussion as to the details, the matter was finally 
 settled towards the end of 1860, and the simple and compre- 
 hensive scheme which Mr. Gladstone proposed in 1861, and 
 which was the crowning effort of the legislative session of that 
 year, was the result. We are not left in doubt as to the hands 
 which framed this important and beneficent measure, and which 
 we venture to predict will rank in coming times only next in 
 importance to that of uniform penny postage. The Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, whose convincing eloquence did so much for 
 the measure in its passage through Parliament, on a subsequent 
 occasion in the House of Commons gave up all claim to having 
 arranged the scheme, and eulogized in highly complimentary 
 terms the actual workers, mentioning Mr. Chetwynd, who was 
 the first controller of the new department, Sir Alexander 
 Spearman, of the National Debt Office, but more especially, 
 and most warmly, Mr. Scudamore, who succeeded to the office 
 of Assistant Secretary to the Post-office on the resignation of 
 Sir Eowland Hill. 
 
 The Bill entitled, " An Act to grant additional facilities for 
 depositing small savings at interest, with the security of Govern- 
 ment for the due repayment thereof," became law on the 17th of 
 May, 1861. 
 
 The first postal banks were established on the 16th of Sep- 
 tember, 1861. A limited number was first organized, in places 
 where no accommodation of the kind had previously been 
 afforded. The extension of the scheme to Ireland and Scotland 
 was effected on the 3rd and 17th of February, 1862, respectively. 
 Nearly all the Money-order offices of the United Kingdom are 
 now also Post-office savings' banks. There are, in round num- 
 bers, 2,100 in England, Wales, and the Islands, 500 in Ireland, 
 
Success of New Banks. 3 2 1 
 
 and 400 in Scotland. Many of our largest towns have several 
 banks. Thus there are at present five banks in Edinburgh, five 
 in Glasgow, twelve in Dublin, ten in Liverpool, sixteen in Man- 
 chester, ten in Birmingham, and seven in Bristol. Of the entire 
 number of Post-office banks, one hundred and sixty-one had, up 
 to the date of the latest returns, 1 failed to obtain depositors. 
 It should be stated, however, that this number is almost ex- 
 clusively confined to small rural districts, and consists of banks 
 which have not been long in operation. When we come to 
 analyze the returns still further, we find abundant proof that the 
 advantages offered by the Post-office banks are understood and 
 appreciated in those parts of the United Kingdom where trade 
 is most flourishing, and where the people are most given to habits 
 of frugality. Thus, while Scotland has only 15 inoperative 
 banks, and England only 46, no fewer than 100 banks in Ireland 
 have failed to attract deposits. Up to March, 1864, the total 
 number of depositors in the postal banks had been 461,505, of 
 whom 403,560 resided in England, and 14,713 in Wales. Of the 
 entire number, 372,955 still held accounts. At the same period, 
 the total amount entrusted to the Post-office reached the sum of 
 5,955,7742. We are enabled to state that six months after- 
 wards, viz. in September, 1864, the total amount had reached to 
 6,940,0002. the result of 2,130,000 deposits. Up to the same 
 time, 2,452,0002. have been returned as repayments in 460,000 
 different sums. The total amount standing in September last 
 to the credit of depositors was, therefore, 4,488,0002. The most 
 gratifying facts in connexion with the new banks are (1) that 
 the greater part of the seven millions sterling received represents 
 new business, being savings which the old banks failed to attract ; 
 and (2) that the Post-office banks show a much larger propor- 
 tion of small depositors than those on the old system. This 
 is proved by the facts, that the money remaining in the new 
 banks, though only a tenth part of the sum deposited in the old 
 ones, has been put there by a fifth of the number of depositors, 
 and also that the average amount of one deposit is 32. 5s. in the 
 new, against 42. 9s. in the old class of banks. 
 
 Between sixty and seventy old savings' banks closed their 
 accounts during the years 1863-4, great part of the business of 
 i March, 1864. Return asked for by Mr. Baines, M.P. for Leeds. 
 T 
 
322 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 each being transferred to the Post-office. A sum amounting to 
 quite a million sterling has been regularly transferred from the 
 old banks ; whilst additional sums, the amount of which cannot 
 be correctly ascertained, have been withdrawn from the old, and 
 paid into the postal banks in cash. In the twelve months 
 ending March, 1864, the sum of 2,300?. was transferred, for some 
 reason, from the new to the old banks. 
 
 With a view to facilitate the proceedings of the trustees of 
 banks which have been or may hereafter be closed, an Act of 
 Parliament was passed in the session of 1863, which will doubt- 
 less serve all the good purposes for which it was designed. 
 
 The modus operandi of this scheme is as simple as it is satis- 
 factory. On making the first deposit under the new arrange- 
 ments, an account-book is presented to the depositor, in which 
 is entered his name, address, and occupation. All the necessary 
 printed regulations are given in this book. The amount of each 
 deposit is inserted by the postmaster, and an impression of the 
 dated stamp of the Post-office is placed opposite the entry, thus 
 making each transaction strictly official. At the close of each 
 day's business, the postmaster must furnish to the Postmaster- 
 General in London a full account of all the deposits that have 
 been made in his office. By return of post an acknowledgment 
 will be received by each depositor in the shape of a separate 
 letter from the head office, the Postmaster- General becoming 
 responsible for the amount. If such a letter does not arrive 
 within ten days from the date of the deposit an inquiry is insti- 
 tuted, and the error rectified. An arrangement like the fore- 
 going shows the boundless resources which the Government 
 possesses in its Post-office. The acknowledgment of every 
 separate transaction in each of the Money-order offices of the 
 three kingdoms, which in any private undertaking would be an 
 herculean labour, involving an enormous outlay in postage alone, 
 is here accomplished with marvellous ease, and the whole mass 
 of extra communications makes but an imperceptible ripple on 
 the stream of the nation's letters flowing nightly from St. Martin's- 
 le-Grand. 
 
 When a depositor wishes to withdraw any of his money, he 
 has only to apply to the nearest post-office for the necessary 
 printed form, and to fill it up, stating his name and address, 
 
Facilities for Withdrawals. 323 
 
 where his money is deposited, the amount he wishes to with- 
 draw, and the place where he wishes it paid, and by return of 
 post he will receive a warrant, in which the postmaster named 
 is authorized to pay the amount applied for. In this respect 
 Post-office savings' banks offer peculiar advantages. A depositor, 
 for instance, visiting the metropolis, and having as he may 
 easily do in London run short of ready money, may, with 
 a little timely notice to the authorities in London, draw out, 
 in any of the hundred new banks in the metropolis, from his 
 amount at home sufficient for his needs. Another person, 
 leaving one town for another, may, without any expense, and 
 no more trouble than a simple notice, have his account trans- 
 ferred to his future home, and continue it there under precisely 
 similar circumstances as those to which he has been accustomed. 
 In 1863 this power was largely used, there being no fewer than 
 20,872 deposits and 15,842 withdrawals made under these cir- 
 cumstances, e.g. at places where the depositor is temporarily 
 residing. 1 The facilities offered by the Post-office in this way 
 are unique ; no other banks can offer them ; and such is the 
 admirable system adopted by the Post-office, that complicated 
 accounts of this nature are reduced to a matter of the simplest 
 routine. At the end of each month the accounts of the two 
 offices concerned in transactions of this kind are reconciled by 
 the addition or deduction of the amounts in question, which 
 arrangement (so far from being an irksome one), enables the 
 Department to obtain a very valuable check upon its gross 
 transactions. Under the old system, a depositor could only 
 effect a transfer of his account from Manchester to Liverpool 
 by withdrawing it from the one, under the usual long notice, 
 and taking it to the other. This course was not only trouble- 
 some to the parties concerned, but the depositor ran the risk of 
 losing his money, or, perhaps, of spending the whole or part of 
 it. Under the Post-office system, however, the transfer may 
 be effected in a day or two, without the depositor even seeing 
 the money, and without the smallest risk of loss. Suppose 
 a depositor wishes to transfer his account from a bank under 
 
 1 One of the first deposits which was made on the first day of opening in 
 the banks started on the new system was withdrawn the next week in another 
 town at some distance. The depositor was a person travelling with a wild 
 beast menagerie. Speech of Mr. Gladstone, January 5th, 1864. 
 Y2 
 
324 Her Maiesty's Mails. 
 
 the old plan to one under the new, or vice versd, the matter 
 is one of equally simple arrangement. He has only to apply to 
 the old savings' bank for a certificate to enable him to transfer 
 his deposits in that bank to that belonging to the Post-office, 
 and when he obtains such certificate he may present it to any 
 postmaster who transacts savings' bank business. The post- 
 master receives it as if it were so much money, and issues 
 a depositor's book, treating the case as if the amount had been 
 handed over to him. A few days longer are required before an 
 acknowledgment can be sent from London ; but this is all the 
 difference between the case and that of an ordinary savings' 
 bank deposit. 1 
 
 In the order of advantages which Post-office savings'-banks 
 offer the depositor, we would rank next to their unquestionable 
 security their peculiar convenience for deposit and withdrawal. 
 Twelve months ago, a person might be the length of an English 
 county distant from a bank for savings. Under the present 
 arrangement, few persons will be a dozen miles distant from 
 a Money-order office, whilst nine-tenths of the entire community 
 will find the necessary accommodation at their very doors. As 
 new centres of population are formed, or as hamlets rise into 
 flourishing villages, and the want of an office for money-orders 
 becomes felt, the requirement will continue to be met, with the 
 
 1 Of course in this case inquiry would have to he made of the old hank 
 and the National Debt office. Ordinarily, the receipt of letters on savings' 
 bank business received in London, involving inquiry, is promptly acknow- 
 ledged, the writers being told that the delay of a few days may occur before a 
 reply can be sent. At the General Savings' Bank office in London, the 
 transactions of each day are disposed of within that day; the monthly adjust- 
 ment of accounts being also prompt. "Warrants for withdrawals are issued in 
 reply to every correct notice received up to eleven o'clock each morning, and 
 these warrants are despatched by the same day's post to the depositors who 
 have applied for them. Every letter received up to eleven o'clock A.M. is 
 answered the same day, or at the latest next day, if no inquiry involving delay 
 is necessary. The arrangements for the examination of savings' bank books 
 every year are also very admirable. A few days before the anniversary of the 
 first deposit, an official envelope is sent down from London to every depositor, in 
 which he or she is asked to enclose his or her book so that it may arrive at the 
 chief office at such a date. It makes its appearance again in the course of 
 two or three days with the entries all checked, and the interest stated and 
 allowed. See an interesting paper by Mr. Scudamore, from which we have 
 derived much of our information, read before the Congrds International de 
 Bienfaisance, June llth, 1862, and reprinted in the Temple Bar Magazine, 
 under the title of " Safe Bind, Safe Find." 
 
Advantages of Post-office Banks. 325 
 
 addition in each case of a companion savings' bank. Again, the 
 expenses of management amounting to a shilling in the old 
 banks for each transaction, against something like half that 
 amount in the new will not allow of the ordinary banks being 
 opened but at a few stated periods during the week. The Post- 
 office savings' bank, attached as it is to the Post-office Money- 
 order office, is open to the public full eight hours of every 
 working day. 
 
 Sums not below one shilling, and amounts not exceeding thirty 
 pounds, in any one year, may be deposited in these banks ; 
 depositors will not be put to any expense for books, postage, &c. 
 and the rate of interest to be allowed will be 2^ per cent. a sum 
 which, though not large, is all which it is found the Government 
 can pay without loss. It is not thought that this low rate of 
 interest will deter the classes most sought after from investing 
 in these banks. The poorer classes, as a rule, regard the ques- 
 tion of a safe investment as a more important one than that of 
 profits, and wisely think far more of their earnings being safe 
 than of their receiving great returns for them. 
 
 This scheme, last and best of all, must help to foster indepen- 
 dent habits among the working population. Their dealings with 
 the Post-office banks are pure matters of business, and no obliga- 
 tion of any sort is either given or taken. The existing banks, on 
 the other hand, partake largely of the nature of a charity. An 
 objection frequently urged against savings' banks with much 
 bitterness is, that many great employers of labour are on the 
 directorate of such institutions, and that, consequently, they are 
 able to exercise an oversight over their characters and savings, 
 not always used for the best of purposes. In the Committee of 
 Inquiry to which we have already alluded, cases designated 
 "rare," we are glad to add were adduced, from which it 
 appeared that provident workmen's wages had been reduced by 
 their employers, upon the ground of their being already well 
 enough off. No such considerations, however, can affect the 
 new banks : postmasters are forbidden to divulge the names of 
 any depositor, or any of the amounts which he or she may have 
 placed in their hands. The advantages of these banks are so 
 obvious, and the arrangements under which they are worked are 
 of such a simple nature, that they cannot help but be increasingly 
 
3 2 6 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 used and useful ; while so safely and cheaply 1 are they managed, 
 that it is impossible but that they will be in every respect a 
 success, whether as regards the Government which originated 
 them, or the community for whose benefit they are intended. 
 Moreover, they are so handy and accessible at all times that the 
 working man requires nothing but the will to do that which his 
 daily experience tells him is so necessary should be done for the 
 comfort of nis family and home. Each month the work of the 
 new banks is visibly increasing, and will continue to do so in 
 proportion as their advantages and benefits become more widely 
 known among the poorer classes. No truer service could be 
 rendered on behalf of the temporal concerns of the great masses 
 of our population than in spreading such information among 
 them. Great employers of labour would find it a positive 
 advantage to themselves to indoctrinate their workmen with the 
 practice and pursuit of frugality, and in pointing them to this 
 excellent machinery of operations ; masters might do the same 
 with their domestic servants ; clergymen and ministers for their 
 parishioners and congregations, with equal propriety and good 
 effect. One effort to bring the postal banks prominently before 
 the classes of which we now speak, in the wide circulation of a 
 paper, My Account with Her Majesty? cannot fail to be useful 
 as it is evidently well meant. And surely the writer is not far 
 from the mark when he concludes by saying : "If there's a philan- 
 thropist that's hard up for an object, I don't know that he could do 
 better than go about distributing tracts setting, forth the rules, 
 regulations, and advantages of the Post-office savings' banks." 
 
 The Bill to grant additional facilities for the purchase of small 
 Government annuities, and for the assuring payment of money 
 at death, is likely to prove nearly as useful and beneficial to the 
 classes for which it is mostly intended as even the institution 
 of postal banks. Two such measures, initiated by the same 
 Government within three years, are proofs that in holding out 
 advantages and inducements to economy and frugality, our 
 Legislature has the interests of the poorer classes at heart. 
 The new Bill passed last session (1864) is in part an extension 
 
 1 According to the return from which we have been quoting, there is a 
 considerable surplus of assets over liabilities in the last year's working. 
 
 2 Originally published in All the Year Round. 
 
Features of the New Measures. 327 
 
 of the principle of 16 and 17 Viet. chap. 45, which Act provided 
 for the granting of deferred Government annuities not exceeding 
 30Z. per annum to persons paying either the purchase-money in 
 one sum or annual premiums. Proposals for insuring lives on 
 Government security are of still earlier origin. Mr. Whitbread, 
 so early as 1807, proposed a Government assurance office. The 
 Act passed in 1853 amended two previous Bills, so that a person 
 buying an annuity could also insure the payment of a sum of 
 money at death. The Act, however, with respect both to 
 annuities and insurances, was practically inoperative, notwith- 
 standing all the amendments it had undergone. Since 1834, 
 the whole of the annual payments amounted to but 177,644?. 
 In 1864, only 6,500 such annuities were in force, the amount 
 which they represented standing at 140,000?. With the prospect 
 of most efficient aid from those who had organized the postal 
 banks, and every confidence in the improved machinery of the 
 Post-office, Mr. Gladstone took the matter in hand, and reduced 
 to a simple and efficacious plan all the proposals of the past. It 
 is now matter of history that Mr. Gladstone's Bill, which at the 
 outset and by the force of his great eloquence carried away all 
 his hearers, was subsequently rather violently opposed, and 
 sent to a Select Committee. It stood the test, however ; for 
 though peacefully altered in some of its minor details, it was 
 very unanimously and cordially agreed to in its distinctive prin- 
 ciples. These principles may be stated, in brief, to consist in a 
 person now being able to insure his life for any sum from 20?. up 
 to 100?. on Government security ; that he may buy a deferred 
 annuity of not more than 50?. either by one payment, or annual 
 payments, or such small payments at such periods as may be most 
 convenient, provided the sums be not less than two shillings ; 
 that the payments of premiums for insurance may also be made 
 in the same manner ; and, lastly, that a person can insure his life 
 under the Act without any reference to the purchase of an annuity. 
 Of the details of each measure much might be said, had space 
 permitted. Suffice it to say, there are several clauses of a novel 
 and attractive nature, which will secure for each branch, we 
 venture to predict, all the business which their most sanguine 
 advocates have been led to expect. The tables, which have been 
 prepared with great care under the eye of the Commissioners for 
 
328 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 the reduction of the National Debt, were laid before both Houses 
 in the early part of the session (1865). The regulations for the 
 conduct of the business have been prepared at the Post-office by 
 the same able men who have carried out to such a successful 
 issue the Act for the establishment of Post-office savings' banks. 
 To the tables and these regulations has just been added in 
 the shape of an official pamphlet, published by command of the 
 Postmaster-general (Lord Stanley of Alderley), whose hearty 
 co-operation in the important Post-office measures of the past 
 four years deserves the highest praise Plain Rules for the 
 Guidance of Persons desiring to Insure their Lives or to Purchase 
 Government Annuities. 1 This tract we hope will be circulated 
 through the length and breadth of the land. It gives, in the 
 plainest possible terms, very full and clear illustrations of the 
 working of the Tables for both Insurances and Annuities, and 
 no agent or viva voce instructor could better show, on the one 
 hand, the benefits, either of a general or special or novel cha- 
 racter, which are offered by the Government, or, on the other 
 hand, the manner in which, and the facilities by means of wiiich, 
 the public may avail themselves of these benefits. At once, we 
 understand, by the help of the machinery of' the postal banks, 
 operations will be commenced on a scheme which, in the words 
 of one of its most powerful advocates, " will probably do more 
 to encourage frugality in the poorest classes than any measure 
 which has been adopted in England since the rights of private 
 property became practically secure." 
 
 1 Written, we believe, by Mr. Scudaraore, and published by Eyre and Spot- 
 tiswoode, 1865. 
 
Misconceptions , 6. 329 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 No careful observer of our public institutions, and no one fol- 
 lowing us in the course of this history and description of one of 
 the most important of these institutions, can doubt that the Post- 
 office is keeping pace with the requirements of the age, or say 
 that it is, as it used to be, intrenched in the traditions of the past. 
 Different from some departments, with their undeviatingly 
 narrow routine, the Post-office is managed with that enlightened 
 policy which openly invites suggestion and criticism ; nay, it 
 goes further, and offers rewards to persons, either in its' employ 
 or otherwise, who may devise any plan for accelerating its busi- 
 ness. The work itself is of such a nature as to admit of constant 
 improvement as well as constant expansion in the Post-office 
 establishment. The authorities publicly intimate that they will 
 be glad to receive clear and correct information respecting any 
 faulty arrangements, promising that such information shall have 
 the best attention of the practical officers of the department. 
 At the same time, they take the opportunity to urge upon John 
 Bull the practice of patience, reminding him of what he is often 
 inclined to forget, that changes in machinery, so extensive and 
 delicate, must be made carefully, and only after the most mature 
 thought and fullest investigation. Mr. Matthew D. Hill, the 
 respected Recorder of Birmingham, writing in Fraser's Magazine 
 in 1862, said, what is no less true now than at that time, " The 
 Post-office no longer assumes to be perfect, and its conductors 
 have renounced their claims to infallibility. Suggested improve- 
 ments, if they can sustain the indispensable test of rigid scrutiny, 
 are welcomed, and not, as of old, frowned away. The depart- 
 ment acts under the conviction that to thrive it must keep 
 ahead of all rivals ; that it must discard the confidence here- 
 tofore placed in legal prohibitions, and seek its continuance of 
 prosperity only by deserving it." 
 
 The Post-office, however, from its peculiar organization and 
 the nature of its business, is liable to many misconceptions from 
 
33 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 which the other great Government departments are more or less 
 free. Hence arises many of the misunderstandings about it, 
 and complaints against it, which, where they do not spring from 
 trivialities incident to every such public undertaking, are in the 
 main neither fair nor reasonable. In the officially published 
 books of the Post-office, more especially the British Postal 
 Guide, the reader may learn that there is a very evident desire 
 on the part of the authorities to treat the public fairly, while, 
 at the same time, many of the misunderstandings are recounted 
 and explained, and many of the popular errors charged against 
 the department are shown not to belong to it. Into these cases 
 it is not our intention here to enter further than to say that 
 though much trouble and many losses must from time to time 
 and at all times have been caused by the carelessness or dis- 
 honesty of some of the many thousand officials of the Post- 
 office, the cases are innumerable where it has been shown, even 
 to the satisfaction of the complainant, that faults, originally set 
 down to the Post-office, rested really in other quarters. We 
 are sure that this view of the case is shared by the great majo- 
 rity of the people of this country, but seeing that there will 
 always be some people found, who, rather than admire the 
 habitual correctness of the great Post-office machine, prefer 
 to dwell upon an occasional divergence, such exposures and 
 elucidations as are continually given in the Post-office Eeports 
 may not be without their value. Bearing, for instance, on this 
 point, an extract from the last Report of the Registration Com- 
 missioners for Scotland is most important, and speaks volumes : 
 " Though transmission by post," say they, " has been so exten- 
 sive for a number of years, not a single instance has occurred, 
 throughout Scotland, of a deed intrusted to the Post-office for 
 the purpose of transmission to the Registrar having been lost, 
 or even delayed for an hour. " 
 
 The opinion is frequently expressed in conversation, and we 
 have often met with such expressions of opinion in our daily and 
 weekly press, that the Post-office ought to give more accommo- 
 dation to the public in many ways, and so disburse some, if not 
 all, its enormous profits. These profits are said to be absurdly 
 large ; that fifty per cent, is ten times the interest of money 
 lent on decent security, and at least five times as much as would 
 
Post- office Monopoly. 331 
 
 satisfy sanguine private speculators. This subject of Post-office 
 profits is, de facto, made the principal argument against what is 
 called the Post-office monopoly. It is only amusing to note other 
 arguments urged against the State monopoly of letter carrying. 
 That the greatest advantages are derived, however, from the 
 existing state of things, political economists are nearly all agreed. 
 Blackstone has been referred to previously. The late Serjeant 
 Stephen, in his Commentaries, endorses Blackstone's views. 
 Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, says that " the Post- 
 office is perhaps the only mercantile project which has been 
 successfully managed by every sort of Government." Mr. 
 M'Cullagh, in his Principles of Political Economy, in language 
 equally strong, says : " Perhaps, with the single exception of 
 the carriage of letters, there is no branch of industry which 
 Government had not better leave to be conducted by indi- 
 viduals. It does not appear, however, that the Post-office could 
 be so well conducted by any other party as by Government." 1 
 
 We have already, in other parts of this book, offered an 
 opinion, in our humble way, on steps which might be taken 
 towards affording extra facilities to the public. A cheaper sea 
 service, a halfpenny post for our towns, a still cheaper registra- 
 tion system, and a small parcels' post, are some very important 
 and desirable items, which it is hoped the practical men of the 
 Post-office may ultimately think practicable. Nor would it be 
 difficult, from published expressions of opinion on the part of the 
 Lords of the Treasury, to make out an argument for universal 
 free deliveries in this country. Some of these improved facilities 
 may, indeed, be strongly urged. A halfpenny post for local letters 
 that is, for letters posted and delivered in the same town 
 seems to us not only practicable, but necessary. Before the days 
 of penny postage we had penny posts in all the principal towns 
 in the country ; our towns, therefore, cannot be said to have 
 received much benefit from the introduction of the great reform. 
 A halfpenny post, we firmly believe, as in the city of Quebec, 
 would be remunerative, although it might be necessary in the 
 first instance to confine the experiment to the larger towns. 2 
 
 1 Fourth edition, 1849, pp. 296, 297. See also M'Cullagh's Commercial 
 Dictionary, and the late. Mr. Senior's Political Economy. 
 
 2 The number of " local letters " posted at present is exceedingly large. 
 According to the Tenth Report, 76 millions of letters were posted in London 
 
332 Her Majesty's Mails. 
 
 Some such scheme will have to be considered, if it be only for 
 the sake of the Post-office holding its own. It is well known that 
 the corps of commissionaires in London oifer a tariff for the 
 delivery of cards and circular letters far below the ordinary 
 postage rate. An important result might be supposed to follow. 
 Such posts would in all probability necessitate more frequent 
 deliveries of letters in provincial towns the postmen to be paid 
 accordingly, as fully, and not as now only partially, employed. 2 
 The question of Post-office salaries naturally follows on the 
 above remark. From the earliest times to the present, the Post- 
 office official has never been burdened with too much pay; 
 petitions on this subject have flowed into the Treasury incessantly, 
 from the first establishment of the Post-office, and no depart- 
 ment has laboured under the same incubus. Though regarding 
 as of infinitely little value, and often untrustworthy and ground- 
 less, the wild talk of " grinding oppression," " slavish treatment," 
 &c. with which the newspapers are now and then accustomed to 
 regale their readers, all postal officials, from the highest to the 
 lowest, who have their time fully occupied in the service, might 
 have their remuneration almost doubled, with excellent effect to 
 the service, and without making their -position much superior to 
 those of the officers in most of the other great departments of 
 the State. Why, indeed, the revenue-making branches should 
 be worse provided for than the establishments engaged in spend- 
 ing revenue seems anomalous, to say the least. While, there- 
 fore, no difficulty would be experienced in apportioning any of 
 the surplus revenue that might be appropriated to any of the 
 objects of which we have taken the liberty to speak, it is quite 
 clear, nevertheless, that that revenue is a fair and not dishonour- 
 
 for delivery in London in 1863; 3,313,000 local letters were posted in Liver- 
 pool; 4,685,000 in Manchester; 3,357,000 in Birmingham; 1,800,000 in 
 Leeds, &c. &c. 
 
 1 Sir Morton Peto expresses an opinion in his work on Taxation, p. 113, 
 that the Post-office has undertaken too much; that "the officers are required 
 not so much for the collection of letters, as for the banking business, the 
 despatch of money-orders, and the management of savings' banks." As a 
 matter of fact, however, this extra work is scarcely perceptibly felt in the 
 Post-office, and few officers could possibly be dispensed with if nothing but its 
 normal business were left to the Post-office to accomplish. Practical experi- 
 ence of the working of any part of the operations would have kept him clear 
 of the errors into which he has fallen. What the great bulk of the officers of 
 the Post-office want is more work, not less. 
 
Post-office Salaries. 333 
 
 able item on the credit side of the Government accounts, with 
 which the public, except through their representatives in Parlia- 
 ment, have nothing whatever to do. The penny postage scheme 
 was carried through Parliament in the confident expectation, 
 resolutely urged by the intrepid founder of that scheme, that all 
 the benefits promised under it would result to the country, 
 without any great relinquishment of Post-office revenue, and 
 that only for a term of years. Gradually, year by year, with 
 enormous, nay, incalculable gain to the public convenience in 
 innumerable ways, the revenue has risen beyond the highest 
 standard of the past. Any relinquishment of the constantly in- 
 creasing profits which might now be made without prejudice to 
 the grand scheme of penny postage however desirable, depends 
 upon Parliament, and not on the Post-office. It is urged, how- 
 ever, that the postal revenue staves off other taxes ; " if the 
 Post-office revenue be abandoned in whole, or in part," said the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer on a recent occasion, " a gap will 
 be created that will have to be supplied by direct taxation." 
 That our postage rates may be regarded as a kind of mild 
 taxation, not unfairly levied, few will deny ; that it is preferable 
 to be taxed this way, so long as we must be taxed, few will 
 doubt. But the argument scarcely relates so strongly to the 
 increments, if we may so call them, of postal revenue, which will 
 be added, it is only reasonable to suppose, from year to year. 
 Eemembering with all proper humility our own position, we 
 would take the liberty to close with a suggestion which we leave 
 to our legislators. Let one of these yearly increments, which 
 now average a quarter of a million of pounds, go to the perfec- 
 tion and consolidation of the service, and we shall not be far 
 wrong if we predict that the result of this trifling outlay would 
 be a profitable return in the contentment it would engender, both 
 within and without, for many years to come. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ACCELERATIONS of Mails : proposals for, 
 159 ; carried out, 240. 
 
 Acts of Parliament: relating to stage 
 coaches, 74 ; relating to the Post-office, 
 84, et seq. ; regulating the Post-office 
 service, 252. 
 
 Addresses of letters, 266 ; curious speci- 
 mens of, 271276. 
 
 Ahasuerus, circular letters of, 4. 
 
 Allen, Ralph, 104, et seq. 
 
 Anderson, James, Scotch Postmaster- 
 General, 116, et seq. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon era, 17. 
 
 Annuities, Government, 326 328. 
 
 Applications, curious, at the Post-office, 
 298, 299. 
 
 Arbitration between Post-office and 
 railways, 161. 
 
 Archer, Mr. Henry, proposes a perfora- 
 ting machine, 309 ; a committee ap- 
 pointed to investigate his claims, 3]0. 
 
 Argyll, Dukes of, 117 ; Postmaster - 
 General in 1855, 234 ; important ser- 
 vices rendered to the Post-office, 237. 
 
 Ashburton, Lord, and penny postage, 
 177, 192. 
 
 Ashurst, Mr. W. H. pamphlet on " Post 
 Reform," 188, 193. 
 
 Atterbury, Bishop, his letters opened at 
 the Post-office, 220. 
 
 B. 
 
 BABBAGE, Professor, proposals of, 159 
 
 161. 
 
 Banks, Postal, see Savings' Banks. 
 Baring, Sir Francis T. 192, 194, 204, 
 
 206. 
 Bianconi, Mr. Charles, and Irish mails, 
 
 141. 
 
 Bishop, Henry, Postmaster-General, 47. 
 Blackstone on the Post-office, 40. 
 
 Blind-letter office, the, 270, et seq. 
 
 Book post : establishment of, 232 ; re- 
 duction in the rates of, 236 ; railway 
 companies object to book postage, 
 233 ; new regulations for, 236. 
 
 Brougham, Lord : in favour of reform, 
 174, 175 ; presents petitions for reform, 
 177 ; speaks in the House of Lords of 
 Mr. Hill's scheme, 178 ; ibid. 186 ; is 
 mentioned by Mr. Hill in 1845, 192 ; 
 speaks on letter-opening at the Post- 
 office, 216. 
 
 Burlamachy, Philip, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 40. 
 
 Bye-letter office established, 112. 
 
 C. 
 
 CALENDAR of state papers, 49. 
 
 Camden's Tour, 77. 
 
 Carriages, the first introduced, 29. 
 
 Charlemagne, posts of, 13. 
 
 "Charter," the Post-office, 12, 13. 
 
 Chetwynd, Mr. George, postal banks, 
 247 ; Post-office library, 259 ; is eulo- 
 gized by Mr. Gladstone, 320. 
 
 Circular letters : Queen Jezebel, 3 ; 
 Ahasuerus, 4. 
 
 Circulation-office, 259; circulation of 
 letters, 263. 
 
 Clanricarde, Marquis of, 229, 309. 
 
 Coaches : origin of, 28, 29 ; improvements 
 in, 129. 
 
 Coin in letters, 210, 270. 
 
 Colchester, Lord, appointed to the Post- 
 office, 240. 
 
 Commission of Post-office inquiry, 184. 
 
 Committees on the Post-office : first com- 
 mittee on Mr. Hill's plan, 178, et seq. ; 
 second committee ditto, 206, et seq. ; 
 on Sunday labour, 227, et seq. ; on 
 letter-opening, 214, et seq. 
 
 Commonwealth, the Post-office under 
 the, 44. 
 
336 
 
 Index. 
 
 Complaints against the Post-office, 300, 
 
 330. 
 
 Congress, Postal, in Paris, 245. 
 Cotton, Sir Robert, 59, 90. 
 Council, Common, of London, difficulties 
 
 with, 43. 
 
 Couriers, great speed of, 13, 11. 
 Craggs, James, 103, et seq. 
 Cross-post system, 60, 104 109. 
 Cyrus and ancient Persian posts, 4. 
 
 D. 
 
 DAVID, King, the first letter-writer on 
 
 record, 3. 
 
 Day mails, institution of, 231, 281. 
 Dead-letter office, 274, et seq. 
 Deciphering letters at the Post-office. 
 
 220, 221. 
 Diploma, the Roman, for letter carrying, 
 
 8. 
 
 Districts, division of London into, 235. 
 Docwra, William, controller of the posts, 
 
 54, 59. 
 
 Drivers of mail coaches, 147, 148. 
 Duncombe, Mr. T. S. on letter opening, 
 
 214, et seq. 
 
 E. 
 
 EDINBURGH Post-office, 121, 122 ; stage 
 coaches to Edinburgh, 129. 
 
 Edinburgh Review on post reform, 175. 
 
 Edward IV. originated the first horse 
 posts, 20. 
 
 Elgin, Earl of, Postmaster-General, 240. 
 
 Envelopes, stamped, 305, 306, 308. 
 
 Evelyn, Sir John, Postmaster-General, 
 90. 
 
 Exchanging bags on railways by appa- 
 ratus, 283 ; description of the process, 
 284. 
 
 Expresses, Post-office, rate of early, 125 ; 
 modern expresses, 290. 
 
 Expressing mails, 243, 244. 
 
 "Extraordinary" posts, 25. 
 
 F. 
 
 FARMING Post office revenue, 43. 
 
 "Flying" coaches, 129. 
 
 Footmen, running, 10. 
 
 Foreign post, established by James I. 
 
 36. 
 Franking letters : increase of, 98, 100 ; 
 
 curious modes of, 181 ; manuscripts 
 
 franked, 198. 
 Franking system, establishment of the, 
 
 96, et seq. 
 
 Frankland, Sir Thomas, 59, 90. 
 Freeling, Sir Francis, 162, 166, 256. 
 Free deliveries, extension of, 232. 
 
 G. 
 
 GENERAL Post-office : location of the, in 
 London, 155, 156 ; account and opera- 
 tions at the, 363, et seq. 
 
 Gentlemen couriers in Charles I.'s time, 
 72. 
 
 Gladstone, Mr. 319, 320, 327, 333. 
 
 Glasgow stage coach, 80 ; ditto mail 
 coach, 143. 
 
 Government officials franking letters, 99. 
 
 Graham, John, Scotch Postmaster- 
 General, 65. 
 
 Graham, Sir James, and letter opening, 
 214, et seq. 
 
 Greece, ancient, posts of, 6, 7. 
 
 Guards, old mail, 146, et seq. 
 
 H. 
 
 HALFPENNY post, a. is established, 82, 
 84. 
 
 Hanse Towns, first posts in Europe in, 
 14. 
 
 " Haste, post haste ! " endorsements on 
 letters, 19. 
 
 Highway Acts, 142. 
 
 Hill, Mr. Edwin, 310. 
 
 Hill, Mr. Frederic, 182, 245, 256. 
 
 Hill, Sir Rowland: his first connexion 
 with Post-office subjects, 168 ; pub- 
 lishes a pamphlet, 169 ; outline of his 
 arguments for reform, 170, et seq. ; his 
 scheme opposed by the Post-office 
 authorities, 175, and outside the 
 Post-office, 175 ; is assisted by Lord 
 Brougham and others, 174 ; by the 
 Mercantile Committee, 177; is ex- 
 amined before the first committee of 
 inquiry, 179 ; the finding bears out 
 Mr. Hill's case, 184 ; consents to a 
 temporary measure, 187 ; is appointed 
 to the Treasury, 190 ; the Quarterly 
 Review and an oificial pamphlet abuse 
 his scheme, 189191 ; is presented 
 with a national testimonial, 191 ; is 
 appointed to the Post -office, and 
 created a K.C.B., 192 ; retires from 
 the Post-office, 193, 213; receives a 
 retiring allowance and parliamentary 
 grant, 194 ; petitions the House of 
 Commons for another committee, 206 ; 
 is examined before it, 208 ; his further 
 proposals, 211, 212 ; recommends day 
 mails, 231 ; the establishment of rural 
 posts, 232 ; carries the union of the 
 two kinds of London letter-carriers, 
 234 ; and the division of London into 
 postal districts, 235; establishes the 
 book post, 233, 234 ; attempts the 
 clause for the compulsory prepayment 
 of letters, and defends it, 239 : suggests 
 the postage stamp, 303, 304; his scheme 
 entirely and wholly successful, 333. 
 
Index. 
 
 337 
 
 Hire of post horses, 23. 
 
 Homeric age in Greece, and letter-writ- 
 ing, 6. 
 
 Horse posts : first in England, 20 ; first 
 in Scotland, 63. 
 
 Hospitality laws, Anglo-Saxon era, 17. 
 
 I. J. K. 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS, early postal, 80. 
 Increase of letters under penny post 
 
 scheme, 198, 201. 
 
 Insurances, Government, 326 328. 
 Ireland, early posts in, 66, 68. 
 Irish letters : dead letters, 277 ; curious 
 
 addresses, 287. 
 
 Irish mail service, improved, 242. 
 James I. , accession of, 32, et seq. 
 Knight, Mr. Charles, gives evidence in 
 
 favour of penny postage, 182 ; proposes 
 
 a stamp for newspapers, 304. 
 
 L. 
 
 LEGISLATION, first, on the Post-office, 45, 
 47. 
 
 Letter carriers, union of London, 234. 
 
 Letters, copy of early, 31. 
 
 Letter opening : origin of, 44, 45 ; com- 
 mittee on, 214, et seq. 
 
 Library, Post-oflice, at St Martin's-le- 
 Grand, 259 note. 
 
 Lichfield, Earl of, 162, 174 ; opposes Mr. 
 Hill, 179, 182. 
 
 Literary men connected with the Post- 
 office, 295 note. 
 
 Literature, on the penny postage re- 
 form, 188, 189. 
 
 Lowther, Viscount, on the postage com- 
 mittee, 178 ; in favour of a twopenny 
 rate ; opposes Mr. Hill when he be- 
 comes Postmaster-General, 190. 
 
 M. 
 
 MABERLEY, Col., 162, 163, 174, 202. 
 
 Macadam, Mr. and road-making, 144, 145. 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, on the Post-office, 80. 
 
 Mail coaches : Palmer's, 136, 145, etseq.; 
 first transmitters of news, 149 ; de- 
 parture of, from London, 149, 150 ; 
 procession of, 150, 151 ; mail coach 
 halfpenny, 137. 
 
 Mail-office, 256, 257, 279. 
 
 Mail trains, acceleration of, 137. 
 
 Manley, John, Postmaster-General, 47. 
 
 " Master of the Postes," 20, et seq. 
 
 Meagreness of material for early history 
 of posts, 16. 
 
 Mein, Robert, Postmaster of Edinburgh, 
 
 Mercantile committee : formation of, 
 176; exertions of, 177; present the 
 testimonial to Mr. Hill, 192. 
 
 Mexican posts, 9. 
 
 Military roads in Scotland, 142. 
 
 Money order office : origin of, 152, 153 ; 
 progress of, 154; remodelled, 240; 
 present establishment, 257, 258. 
 
 Monopolies, Post-office : of revenue, 43 ; 
 of travelling post, 22 ; of letter-carry- 
 ing, 85 ; infraction of, 45 ; arguments 
 for and against, 331. 
 
 Mulready's envelopes, 306. 
 
 N. 
 
 NEWS, spread of, a slow process, 79. 
 
 Newspapers: origin of, 78; impressed 
 stamp taken off, 233 ; escaping from 
 their covers in Post-office, 269 ; room 
 for disposing of them in the General 
 Post-office, 269. 
 
 " Newspaper Fair" at the General Post- 
 office, 264, 265. 
 
 North Road, the great, 144. 
 
 Nuncii, Government couriers or, 19. 
 
 O. 
 
 OFFICIAL objections to penny postage, 
 182, 191. 
 
 Official secrecy, 299. 
 
 Officers of the Post-office : number of, 
 252 ; in provincial offices, 261, 262. 
 
 Opening letters : Mr. Wallace moves for 
 returns for, 164 ; Mr. Buncombe pre- 
 sents a petition from M. Mazzini 
 against, 214 ; debates in Parliament, 
 215, et seq. ; inquiry is granted, 218 ; 
 precedents found for, 220, 222 ; foreign 
 letters, 223 ; present law regarding 
 opening of letters, 226. 
 
 O'Neale, Postmaster-General, 51. 
 
 P. 
 
 PACKET service, early, i 
 
 Page, Mr. Edward, report on railways, 
 238 ; expressing a mail, 243. 
 
 Palmer, John, 123, et seq.; his character, 
 138 ; his plans, 130 ; result of his plans, 
 139 ; is suspended from the Post-office 
 service, 138. 
 
 Parcels post, a suggestion for a, 247, 248. 
 
 Penny Post-office, 54, et seq., 83. 
 
 Penny postage : petitions in favour of, 
 177 ; committee appointed to examine 
 Mr. Hill's scheme, 178 ; ordered to be 
 carried out, 187, 188 ; early results of, 
 197 ; Mr. Hill the entire author of the 
 scheme, 196 ; increase of letters by, 
 
338 
 
 Index. 
 
 199 : testimonies in favour of, 200 
 202 ; an educational measure, 201 ; 
 causes at first a reduction in the re- 
 venue, 202 ; at first only partially car- 
 ried out, 204 ; result of the second 
 committee, 213 ; the development of, 
 231, et seq. ; resume of measures re- 
 sulting from, within the last ten years, 
 246. 
 
 Pensions, Post-office, 53 ; Sir R. Hill's 
 pension, 194. 
 
 Persian posts, 4, 5. 
 
 Peruvian posts, 11. 
 
 Petitions : in favour of 
 177 ; to the Treasury, 4 
 
 Pitt, Mr., and the Post-of 
 
 Polo, Marco, and Chinese posts, 12. 
 
 Pope, and Ralph Allen, 111. 
 
 Postboys : Cowper's picture of, 123 ; 
 speed of, 124, 131 ; dishonesty of the, 
 109, 125. 
 
 " Post for the packet," 33. 
 
 Posthorses, hire of, 35, 48. 
 
 Postmasters : as innkeepers, 74 ; in pro- 
 vincial towns, 260, 262. 
 
 Postmaster-General : origin of office of, 
 85 ; early duties of, 91, 95 ; law regu- 
 lating the appointment of, 253 : pre- 
 sent duty of, 254 ; list of, 254, 255. 
 
 Post routes, early, 23, 24. 
 
 Postage stamps, see Stamps. 
 
 Povey, Mr., and the halfpenny post, 82, 
 et seq. 
 
 Prepayment of letters, 207 ; compulsory 
 clause, 239 ; origin of means of, 302. 
 
 Prideaux, Edmund, 40, 43, 46. 
 
 Procession of London mail coaches, 150. 
 
 Prosecutions, Post-office, 164, 165. 
 
 Provincial Post-offices : establishments 
 of the, 261 ; description of one of the, 
 290, et seq. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quarterly Review, on penny postage, 189. 
 Questers, De, the, first foreign Post- 
 masters, 36. 
 
 R. 
 
 RAILWAYS: conveyance of mails by, 
 143, 160, 161 ; high charges of, 205 ; 
 influence on the Post-office, 160; rela- 
 tion to the Post-office, 237; Post- 
 office Bill concerning, thrown out, 
 239 ; improvement in the Post-office 
 through, 279 ; influence of accidents 
 on the Post-office, 289. 
 
 Randolph, Sir Thomas, " Chief Post- 
 master," 26, 27. 
 
 Rates of postage : early, 40, 61, 66, 6T ; 
 are increased, 113 ; before postage 
 reform, 163 ; reduction of, 61. 
 
 Records, the Post-office, 48. 
 
 Receiver and Accountant-General's of- 
 fice, 257. 
 
 Reform, penny post, see Sir Rowland 
 Hill. 
 
 Registration of letters, 209; compulsory 
 registration of coin letters adopted, 
 244. 
 
 Reports, on the Post-office, 233. 
 
 Revenue, Post-office : disposal of, 88, 
 115 ; increase of, 139 ; deficiency from 
 penny postage, 202, 204; present, gross 
 and net, 253 ; early, 47, 101, 112. 
 
 Restrictive sorting, the principle of, 
 adopted, 245 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, 157, 158, 187. 
 
 Road-making, progress of, 128, 142, 144. 
 
 Roads, condition of, in the eighteenth 
 century, 126, et seq. ; in Scotland, 143. 
 
 Robbery of mails, 125 ; Palmer's report 
 on the, 134, et seq. 
 
 Rome, ancient, posts of, 7, 8. 
 
 Rural Posts : establishment of, 231, 232, 
 letter carriers, 294 ; Capern's descrip- 
 tion of their duties, 295. 
 
 ST. MARTIN'S-LE-GRAND, 157, 263. 
 
 Salaries, Post-office: early, 101, 158; 
 present, 333. 
 
 Sample Post, establishment of, 247. 
 
 Savings' Banks, Post-office : see 244, 247 ; 
 office in London, 258, 259 ; origin of 
 ordinary banks, 316 ; frauds in the old 
 class and insecurity of, 318 ; proposals 
 for the Postal Banks, 319 ; Mr. Glad- 
 stone carries the measure, 319; suc- 
 cess of new banks, 321 ; modus ope- 
 randi of, 322-4; their advantages, 
 325. 
 
 Schomberg, Duke of, 57. 
 
 Scotch Post-office : early histoiy of, 62, 
 64, 116; their post-boys, 65, 117; 
 penny post, 121 ; Postmasters-Gene- 
 ral of, 62, 66, 116, 120. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, anecdotes of, 97. 
 
 Scudamore, Mr. Frank, examines the 
 Post-office records, 93, 95 ; organizes 
 Post-office Banks, 247 ; eulogised by 
 Mr. Gladstone, 320 ; writes on Postal 
 Banks, 324 ; writes a popular paper 
 on Government Life Insurance, 328. 
 
 Secretary of , the Post-office, 255; list 
 of secretaries, 256 ; secretary's office, 
 256. 
 
 Secret letter office at the Post-office, 
 215, 220, 221. 
 
 Secret intelligence, means of trans- 
 mitting, 4. 
 
 Security of mail coaches, 134, 140. 
 
 Ship letters, 113, 154, 155. 
 
 Smuggling of letters, 163, 180, 181. 
 
Index. 
 
 339 
 
 Social progress under the Tudors, 18, 
 27, et seq. 
 
 Stage coaches, 75, 129 ; how regarded, 
 76. 
 
 Stamp department, Somerset House, 
 308, 310. 
 
 Stamps, postage : first suggested for 
 newspapers, 303 ; proposed by Mr. 
 Hill, 304; how first engraved, 306; 
 their perforation, 310 ; their forgery, 
 311 ; embossing, 310 ; obliteration, 
 313 ; as a currency, 312 ; mania for 
 collecting, 314. 
 
 Stamping letters at the Post-office, 266, 
 293. 
 
 Stanhope, Lord, disputes of, 36. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, of Alderley, 196, 240, 328. 
 
 State letters, 98. 
 
 Strangers' post, 25, 26. 
 
 Sunday labour at the Post-office : agita- 
 tion in 1849, 227 ; petitions regarding, 
 227 ; subject of, brought before Par- 
 liament, 228 ; commission of inquiry 
 and result, 229, 230. 
 
 Surveyors, Post-office, 87, 88, 133, 260. 
 
 Sykes, Mr. and Postal Banks, 244, 319. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taylor, the water-poet, penniless pil- 
 grimage of, 74. 
 
 Thanet, Dowager-Countess of, 70. 
 
 " Thorough Posts " in James the First's 
 reign, 33, 34. 
 
 Thurn and Taxis, Counts of, 14, 15. 
 
 Tilley, Mr. John, 193, 256. 
 
 Time-bill, early Post-office, 124. 
 
 Toll, freedom from, of mail coaches, 141. 
 
 Travelling : difficulties of, 29, 73, 75, 79, 
 142, 143; expeditious cases of, 30, 72 ; 
 post, 22. 
 
 Travelling Post-office : 257 ; establish- 
 ment of, 278280 ; description of, 282; 
 incidents in the, 286288. 
 
 Treasury, and the Post-office, 91, 92. 
 
 Tuke, Sir Brian, "Master of Postes," 
 21, 22. 
 
 Turnpike Act, 52. 
 
 U. 
 
 United States, convention with, 241. 
 Unpaid letters, trouble with, 262. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wallace, Mr. of Kelly : 161 ; moves for 
 papers, 164 ; his character, 165 ; does 
 important services, 167 ; proposes the 
 first committee for penny postage, 
 and is appointed chairman of it, 177, 
 178; his services are mentioned by Mr. 
 Hill, 192195 ; speaks on letter-open- 
 ing, 215. 
 
 Warburton, Mr. Irish Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 68, 69. 
 
 Weight, charge by, advocated by Mr. 
 Hill, 173, 207. 
 
 Westminster Review on the Post-office, 
 172, 331. 
 
 Witherings, Thomas, 39, et seq. 
 
 Y. 
 
 York, Duke of, Postmaster-General, 
 
 52, 53. 
 Young, Arthur, travels of, 126, et seq. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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