'iF^, CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library arV1665 Her Maiesty's mails: 3 1924 031 183 639 olln.anx Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031183639 HER MAJESTT'S MAILS: A'N HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE BRITISH POST-OFFICE. TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX. BV WILLIAM LEWINS. " OUR ENGLISH POST-OFFICE IS A SPLENDID TRIUMPH OF CIVILIZATION." — Lord Macaulay. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, 14, LUDGATE HILL. 1864. LONDON: CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL. 7^drg'43 PREFACE. This volume is the first of a contemplated series de signed to furnish some account of the history and ordinary- working of the revenue departments of the country — to do for the great Governmental industries what Mr. Smiles has so ably done (to compare his great things with our small) for the profession of civil engineering and several national industries. Few attempts have ever been made to trace the rise and progress of the invaluable institution of the Post-OfRce. We have more than once seen the question asked in Notes and Queries — that sine guA no?i of the curious and the learned — where a continuous account might be found of English postal history. In each case, the inquirer has been referred to a short summary of the history of the Post-Office, prefixed to the Postmaster- General's First Report. Since that, the Messrs. Black, in the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, have supplied an excellent and more extended notice. Still more recently, however, in an admirable paper on the Post-Office in Eraser'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 eachj as it would iv Preface. appear, for so short a time." " I have not been able to find," adds Mr. Hill, " that even Germany has produced a single work which affects to furnish more than a sketch or outline of postal history." The first part of the following pages is offered as a contribution to the study of the subject, in the hope that it will be allowed to fill the vacant place, at any rate, until the work is done more worthily. With regard to that most interesting episode in the history of the Post-OfRce which resulted in the penny-post reform, the materials for our work — scanty though they undoubtedly are in the earlier periods — are here sufficiently abundant The scope, however, of the present undertaking would not allow of much more than a proportionate amount of space being devoted to that epoch. Besides, the history of that eventful struggle can be properly told but by one hand, and that hand, if spared, intends, we believe, to tell his own story. Mr. Torrens MacCullagh, in his Life of Sir James Graham, has thrown much new light on the letter-opening transactions of 1844, and we have been led, on inquiry, to concur in many of his views on the subject. The greater portion of the second division of this volume, as well as a portion of the first part, appeared originally in the pages of several popular serial publications — principally Chambers's Journal and Mr. Chambers's Book of Days; the whole, however, has been thoroughly revised, where it has not been re-written, and otherwise adapted to the purposes of the present work. We are indebted to Mr. Robert Chambers, LL.D., not only for permitting the republication of these papers in this form, but also for kindly indicating to us sources of information from the rich storehouse of his experience, which we have found very useful. On collateral subjects, such as roads and conveyances, besides Preface. v 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 publica- tion, personal acquaintance has been brought to bear on the treatment of different parts of it, and that we have received, in describing the various branches of the Post- Office, much valuable information from Mr. J. Bowker and several gentlemen connected with the London Establish- ment. It is hoped that the information, now for the first time brought together, may prove interesting to many letter- writers who are ignorant, though not willingly so, of the channels through which their correspondence flows. If our readers think that the Wise Man was right when he likened the receipt of pleasant intelligence from a far country to cold water given to a thirsty soul, surely they will also admit that the agency employed to compass this good service, which has made its influence felt in every social circle, and which has brought manifold blessings in its train, deserves some passing thought and attention. The Appendix is designed to afford a source of general reference on many important matters relating to the Post- Office, some parts of it having been carefully collated from Parliamentary documents not easily accessible to the pubUc. April 1 6, 1864. CONTENTS. PART I. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. CHAPTER I. PAGE JNTRODHCTORY I CHAPTER II. THE RISE OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE 1 5 CHAPTER III. ON OLD ROADS AND SLOW COACHES . . ■ • • 37 CHAPTER IV. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 47 CHAPTER V. PALMER -AND THE MAIL-COACH ERA 73 CHAPTER VI. THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE ... 94 CHAPTER VII. SIR ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY -POSTAGE . . . . , . I03 viii Contents. CHAPTER VIII. PAGS EARLY RESULTS OF THE PENNY-POSTAGE SCHEME. . I32 CHAPTER IX. THE POST-OFFICE AND LETTER-OPENING 150 CHAPTER X. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE .... 165 PART II. DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. PREFATORY 186 CHAPTER I. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE POST-OFFICE . . . . 187 CHAPTER II. y ON THE CIRCULATION OF LETTERS I99 CHAPTER III. THE MAIL-PACKET SERVICE 245 CHAPTER IV. ON POSTAGE-STAMPS 255 CHAPTER V. POST-OFFICE savings' BANKS 26S CHAPTER VI. BEING MISCELLANEOUS AND SUGGESTIVE 279 Contents, CHAPTER VII. PAGE CONCERNING SOME OF THE POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS TO WHICH THE POST- OFFICE IS LIABLE 291 APPENDIX (A). CHIEF OFFICERS OF THE POST-OFFICE . . . 308 APPENDIX (B). ABSTRACT OF THE PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS . . . 309 APPENDIX (C). INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE APPOINTMENTS IN THE POST-OFFICE SERVICE 330 APPENDIX (D). APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICE IN LONDON . 333 PRINCIPAL APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICES OF DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH 336 APPOINTMENTS, WITH SALARIES, OF THE FIVE PRIN- CIPAL PROVINCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND 337 INFORMATION RESPECTING OTHER PRINCIPAL PRO- VINCIAL POST-OFFICES . . 34° APPENDIX (E). SALE OF POSTAGE-STAMPS . 34' APPENDIX (F). CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY RAILWAY 342 APPENDIX (G). MANUFACTURE OF POSTAGE-LABELS AND ENVELOPES . 344 APPENDIX (H), RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM 345 PART I. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE POST-OFFICE. HER MAJESTY'S MAILS. ■'»>i;cs=d. to any place in Scotland. Of course the distances were all reckoned from London. The control of the English letter-office was entrusted to the Foreign Postmaster-General, who had suggested the new undertaking. Witherings held the joint offices for five years, when in 1640 he was charged with abusing both his trusts, and superseded by Philip Burlamachy, a London merchant. It was arranged, however, that Burlamachy should execute the duties of his offices under the care and inspection of the principal Secretary of State. And now began a quarrel which lasted incessantly from 1641 to 1647. When the proclamation concerning the sequestra- tion of his office was published, Witherings assigned his patent to the Earl of Warwick. Mindful of this opportunity, Lord Stanhope, the " Chief Postmaster " under the King's father, who had surrendered his patent some years before, now came forward and stated that the action had not been voluntary, but, as we learn from his petition to the House of Lords, he "was summoned to the Council table, and * Blackstone, in speaking of the monopoly in letter traffic, states that it is a "provision which is absolutely necessary, for nothing but an exclusive right can support an office of this sort ; many rival indepen- dent offices would only serve to ruin one another." — Com. voL i. p. 324. 2 2 Her Majesty s Maik. obliged, before he was suffered to depart, to subscribe some- what there penned upon your petitioner's patent by the Lord Keeper Coventry." Lord Stanhope found a staunch friend and adherent in Mr. Edmund Prideaux, a member of the House of Commons, and subsequently Attorney-General to the Commonwealth. Two- rival offices were established in London, and continued strife was maintained between the officers of the two- claimants. On one occasion, Prideaux himself helped to seize the Plymouth mail which had just arrived in London, and was proceeding to the office of the Earl of Warwick near the Royal Exchange. Burlamachy and the Government failed to restore peace. In the Com- mission on the Post-Office, to which we have already referred, the subject was taken up, but the resolution of the Committee only rendered matters more complicated. The Committee, though Prideaux contrived to be made Chair- man of it, declared that the sequestration of two years before " was a grievance and illegal, and ought to be taken off," and Mr. Witherings restored to office. The Commission decided against the Government, both as regards the seques- tration and the monopoly of letter-carrying, which the King proclaimed in 1637. Both questions were left in abeyance for two years, when, in 1644, the Parliamentary farces having begun to gain an ascendancy over those of the King, the Lords and Commons by a joint action appointed Edmund Prideaux, the Chairman of the Committee of 1642, "and a barrister of seven years' standing,'' to the vacant office. It is somewhat amusing to note how the monopohzing 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 reso- lution estabhshing 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 Parhament and their forces, that post-stages be erected in several parts of the kingdom, and the office of Master of * Journals of the House of Commons, 1644. The Post-Offiu yields a Revenue. 23 , the Post and Couriers being at present void, ordain that Edmund Prideaux shall be and hereby is constituted Master of the Posts, Couriers, and Messengers." Prideaux must have been an energetic and pains-taking manager. He was very- zealous and greatly improved the service, " establishing," says Blackstone, " a weekly conveyance of letters to all parts of the country, thereby saving to the pubhc the charge of maintaining postmasters to the amount of 7,000/. per annum." It seems to have been clearly seen in Parlia- ment that the Post-Office would eventually pay its own expenses, and even yield a revenue ; for, in deciding on Prideaux's proposal, their object is stated quite concisely in one of the clauses sanctioning it : — " That for defraying the charges of the several postmasters, and easing the State of it, there must be a weekly conveyance of letters to all parts of the country." For twenty years previously the establishment of the post had been a burden to the extent of three or four thousand pounds a year on the public purse. Prideaux at first was allowed to take the profits of his office, in consideration of his bearing all the charges. In 1649, five years after his appointment, the amount of revenue derived from the posts reached 5,000/. and a new arrangement was entered into. The practice of farming the Post-Ofifice revenue began from the year 1650, and lasted, as far as regards some of the bye posts, down to the end ol the last century. In 1650 the revenue was farmed for the sum of 5,000/. In the year 1649 the Common Council of London dehberately estabhshed a post-office for inland letters in direct rivalry to that of the Parhament. But the Commons, although they had loudly denounced the formation of a monopoly by the Crown, proceeded to put down this in- fringement of the one which they had but lately secured to themselves. The City authorities, backed, as they were in those days, by immense power, stoutly denied that the Parliament had any exclusive privilege in the matter. They could see no reason why there should not be "another 24 Her Majesty's Mails. weekly conveyance of letters and for other uses " (this latter clause most probably meaning conveyance of parcels and packets). Though pressed to do so, " they refused to seek the sanction of Parliament, or to have any direction from them in their measure." * " The Common Council," it is further stated by way of complaint, "have sent agents to settle postages by their authority on several roads, and have employed a natural Scott, who has gone into Scotland, and hath there settled postmasters (others than those for the state) on all that road." Prideaux took care to learn some- thing from the rival company. He lowered his rates of postage, increased the number of despatches, and then resolutely applied himself to get the City estabUshment suppressed. Prideaux, who had now become Attorney- General, invoked the aid of the Council of State. The Council reported that, " as affairs now stand, they conceive that the office of Postmaster is, and ought to be, in the sole power and disposal of Parliament." After this decision the City posts were immediately and peremptorily suppressed, and from this date the carrying of letters has been the exclusive privilege of the Crown. Though the Government succeeded in establishing the monopoly, public opinion was greatly against the measure. The authorities of the city of London, as may well be imagined, were incessant in their exertions to defeat it, not only at that time, but on many subsequent occasions. Pamphlets were written on the subject, and one book, especially, deserves mention, inas- much as its author bore a name now memorable in the annals of the British Post-Office. In 1659 was pubhshed a book, entitled y(7^« HilFs 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, ^to. 1659. Under the Protectorate, the Post-Office undenvent material changes. Whilst extending the basis of the Post-Office, Cromwell and his Council took advantage of the State * Journals of the House of Commons, 21st March, 1649. Parliamentary Enactments. 25 monopoly to make it subservient to the interests of the Commonwealth. One of the ordinances published during the Protectorate sets forth that the Post-Ofifice ought to be upheld, not merely because it is the best means of con- veying public and private communications, but also because it may be made the agent in " discovering and preventing many wicked designs, which have been and are daily con- trived against the peace and welfare of this Commonwealth, the intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated except by letters of escript." A system of espionage was thus settled which has always been abhorrent to the nature and feelings of Englishmen. But perhaps we ought not to judge the question in the light of the present day. And we would do justice to the Council of the Commonwealth. The Post-OfiBce now for the first time became the subject of parliamentary enactments, and the acts passed during the interregnum became the models for all subsequent measures. In the year 1656 an Act was passed, " to settle the postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland," and hence- forth the Post-Office was established on a new and broad basis.* It was ruled that there " shall be one General Post- Office, and one officer stiled the Postmaster-Generall of * In Burton's Diary of the Parliament of Cromwell, an account is given of the third reading of the new Act, which is important and interesting enough to be here partly quoted. ' ' The bill being brought up for the last reading — Sir Thomas Wroth said: 'This bill has bred much talk abroad since yesterday. The design is veiy good and specious ; but I would have some few words added for general satisfaction : to know how the monies shall be disposed of; and that our letters should pass free as well in this Parliament as formerly. ' Lord Strickland said : ' When the report was made, it was told you that it (the Post-Office) would raise a revenue. It matters not what reports be abroad, nothing can more assist trade and commerce than this intercourse. Our letters pass better than in any part whatsoever. In France and Holland, and other parts, letters are often laid open to public view, as occasion is. ' Sir Christopher Pack was also of opinion, 'That the design of the bill is very good for trading and commerce ; and it matters not what 26 Her Majesty s Mails. England, and Comptroller of the Post-Office." This officer was to have the horsing of all "through" posts and persons " riding post." " Prices for the carriage of letters, English, Scottish, and Irish," as well as foreign, and also for post- horses, were again fixed. All other persons were forbidden " to set up or employ any foot-posts, horse-posts, or packet- boats." Two exceptions, however, were made under the latter head, in favour of the two universities, " who may use their former liberties, rights, and privileges of having special carriers to carry and recarry letters as formerly they did, and as if this Act had not been made." The Cinque Ports also must " not be interfered with, and their ancient rights of sending their own post to and from London shall remain intact." At the Restoration this settlement of the Po^t-Office was confirmed in almost all its particulars. The statute 12 Car. II. c. 35 re-enacts the ordinance of the Common- wealth, and on account of its being the earliest recognised statutory enactment, is commonly known as the " Post- Office Charter." It remained in full force until 17 10. The following is the important preamble to the statute in question : " Whereas for the maintainance of mutual cor- respondencies, and prevention of many inconveniences happening by private posts, several public post-offices have been heretofore erected for carrying and recarrying of letters by post to and from all parts and places within England, Scotland, and Ireland, and several posts beyond the seas, the well-ordering whereof is a matter of general concern- ment, and of great advantage, as well for the preservation of trade and commerce as otherwise." It does not appear why Prideaux's connexion with the Post-Office was dissolved, nor yet exactly when. Probably is said abroad about it. As to letters passing free for members, it is not worth putting in any act.'' Colonel Sydenham said : ' I move that it may be committed to be made but probationary; it being never a law before.'''''' Tire bill was referred to a Committee, and subsequently passed nearly unanimously. The Post- Office Charter. 27 his more onerous duties as first law officer of the Govern- ment demanded all his time and energy. However it was, we hear no more of him after his victory over the then formidable City magnates. During the remaining years of Cromwell's life, the revenues of the Post-Office, wonderfully augmented by Prideaux's management, were farmed for the sum of 10,000/. a year to a Mr. John Manley. During Manley's tenure of office, the proceeds must either have increased with marvellous rapidity, or the contracts were under estimated; for when, in 1659, Manley left the Post- Office, he calculated that he had cleared in that and some previous years the sum of 14,000/. annually. A Parlia- mentary Committee instituted a strict scrutiny into the proceeds of the office in the first year of the Restoration, at which period it became necessary that a new Postmaster- General should be appointed. It was agreed by the members of this Committee to recommend that a much higher sum be asked from the next aspirant to the office, inasmuch as they found that Mr. Manley, instead of over-estimating his receipts, had erred on the other side, and that they could not have come far short of the annual sum of 20,000/. The result of the Committee's investigation was, that Mr. Henry Bishop was only appointed to the vacant place on his entering into a contract to pay to Government the annual sum of 21,500/ In estimating the increase of Post-Office revenue from year to year, it must be borne in mind that a considerable item in the account was derived from the monopoly in post-horses for travelling, which monopoly had been secured under Cromwell's ordinances, and re-secured under 12 Car. II. c. 35.. By this Act, no traveller could hire horses for riding post from any but authorized post- masters.* This statute remained in force, under some limitations, till 1779. * Lord Macaulay states that there was an exceptional clause in this act, to the effect, that "if a traveller had waited half an hour without being supphed, he might hire a horse wherever he could." — History of England, vol. i. 28 Her Majesty's Mails. Many matters of detail in the arrangements of the Post- Office were discussed in Parliament during the first three years of the Restoration. Long-promised bye-posts were now for the first time established ; the circulation of the letters, meaning by that the routes the mails shall take, and many such subjects, best settled of course by the authorities, weary the reader of the Journals of the House of Commons about this date. In December, 1660, for instance, we find the House deliberating on a proviso tendered by Mr. Titus to the following effect : — " Provided also and be it enacted, that a letter or packet-post shall once every week come to Kendal by way of Lancaster, and to the town of Penrith in Cumberland by way of Newcastle and Carlisle, and to the City of Lincoln and the borough of Grimsby likewise ;" and we are glad to find that this reasonable proviso, to give these " out-of-the-way places" the benefit of a weekly post, was agreed to without cavil. We notice one important reso- lution of the session of this year, setting forth that, as the Post-Office Bill has been carried through the Houses satis- factorily, " such of the persons who have contributed their pains in improvement of the Post-Office, be recommended to the King's Majesty for consideration, to be had of the pains therein taken accordingly." Let us hope (for we find no further mention of the matter) that all concerned got their deserts. Tardy as the English people were, compared with their continental neighbours, in rearing the institution of the post, the foundation of an establishment was now laid which has, at the present time, far distanced all com- petitors in its resources and in the matter of liberal pro- visions for the. people. Even before the days of penny postage, the Duke of Wellington, than whom no man was supposed to know better the postal regulations of the Continent, gave it as his deliberate opinion, that "the English Post-Office is the only one in Europe which can be said to do its work." In rewarding, therefore, those who contributed so much to this success at this early period of the history of the establishment, King Charles would The King and the Nonconformists. 29 simply pay an instalment of the debt which future genera- tions would, owe to them. Mr, Bishop was only left undisturbed for two short years. As it was evident that the revenue of the office was in- creasing, the House of Commons took advantage, at the close of his second year of office, to desire his Majesty that " no further grant or contract of the Post-Office be ■ again entered into till a committee inspect the same and see what improvements may be made on the Revenue, as well as in the better management of the department." They pray that the office may be given to the highest bidder. His Majesty replies that he has not been satisfied with the hands in which it has been. Notwithstanding that a measure was carried requiring the officers of the Post-Ofiice in London and the country to take the oaths of allegiance and supre- macy, and notwithstanding that these oaths were properly subscribed, his Majesty is not at all satisfied, " for the extraordinary number of nonconformists and disaffected per- sons in that office," and is desirous of a change. The term being expired, his Majesty " will have a care to see it raised to that profit it may fairly be, remembering always that it being an office of much trust as well as a farm, it will not be fit to give it to him that bids most, because a dishonest or disaffected person is likeliest to exceed that way." There can be no manner of doubt now, that the King's words on this occasion were meant to prepare the minds of his faithful Commons for the successor which he had by this time fully resolved upon. Two months subse- quently to the above message to the Commons, the entire revenue of the Post-Ofiice is settled by statute, 15 Car. II. c. 14, upon James, Duke of York, and his heirs male in perpetuity. This arrangement existed only during the life- time of Charles, for when, at his death, the Duke of York ascended the throne, the revenue of the Post-Office, which had by that time reached to 65,000/. a-year, again reverted to the Crown. No means were spared to make the Post- Office fruitful during the remainder of the years of Charles II. 30 Her Majesty's Mails. Not only were direct measures sanctioned, but others which had only a bearing on the interests of the Post-Office were introduced, and easily carried through the Houses. Now, for the first time, in 1663, the Turnpike Act ToaAe. its appearance on our Statute-book, and we may gather from the preamble to this useful Act some of the impediments which at that time existed to postal communication. It sets forth that the great North Road — the main artery for- the post-roads and our national intercourse — was in many parts " very vexatious," " almost impassable," and " very dangerous." The Act provided for needful improvements, and was the beginning of legislation on that subject. Letter-franking also commenced in this year. A Com- mittee of the House of Commons which sat in the year 1735 reported, "that the privilege of franking letters by the knights, &c. chosen to represent the Commons in Par- liament, began with the creating of a post-office in the kingdom by Act of Parliament." The proviso which secured this privilege to members cannot now be regarded otherwise than as a propitiatory clause to induce a unani- mous approval of the bill in general. The account* of the discussion of the clause in question is somewhat amusing. Sir Walter Earle proposed that " members' letters should come and go free during the time of their sittings." Sir Heneage Finch (afterwards Lord Chancellor Finch) said, indignantly, " It is a poor mendicant proviso, and below the honour of the House." Many members spoke in favour of the clause, Sir George Downing, Mr. Boscowen, among the number, and Sergeant Charlton also urged " that letters for counsel went free." The debate was, in fact, nearly one- sided ; but the Speaker, Sir Harbottle Grimstone, on the question being called, refused for a considerable time to put it, saying he "felt ashamed of it." The proviso was eventually put and carried by a large majority. When the Post-Office Bill, with its franking privilege, was sent up to the Lords, they threw out the clause, ostensibly for the same * Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. ix. "Post Free." 31 reasons which had actuated the minority in the Commons in opposing it, but really, as it was confessed some years afterwards, because there was no provision made in the Bill that the " Lords^ own letters should pass free." A few years later this important omission was supplied, and both Houses had the privilege guaranteed to them, neither Lords nor Commons now feeling the arrangement below their dignity. Complaint is made for the first time this year, that letters have been opened in the General Post-OfRce. Members of Parliament were amongst the complainants. The attention of the Privy Council having been called to the subject, the King issued a proclamation " for quieting the Postmaster- General in the execution of his office.'' It oidained that " no postmaster or other person, except under the immediate warrant of our principal Secretary of State, shall presume to open letters or packets not directed unto themselves." Two years before the death of Charles II. a penny post, the only remaining post-office incident of any importance during his reign, was set up in London for the conveyance of letters and parcels. This post was originated by Robert Murray, an upholsterer, who, like many other people living at the time, was dissatisfied that the Post-Office had made no provision for correspondence between different parts of London. By the then existing arrangements, communi- cation was much more easy between town and country than within the limits of the metropolis. Murray's post, got up at a great cost, was assigned over to Mr. William Docwray, a name which figures for many succeeding years in post-office annals. The regulations of the new penny post were, that all letters and parcels not exceeding a pound weight, or any sum of money not above 10/. in value, or parcel not worth more than 10/., might be conveyed at a charge of one penny in the city and suburbs, and for twopence to any distance within a given ten-mile circuit. Six large offices were opened at convenient places in London, and receiving-houses were established in all the principal streets. Stowe says, that in the windows of the 32 Her Majesty's Mails. latter offices, or hanging at the doors, were large placards on which were printed, in great letters, " Penny post letters taken in here." " Letter-carriers," adds the old chronicler, " gather them each hour and take them to the grand office in their respective circuits. After the said letters and parcels are duly entered in the books, they are delivered at stated periods by other carriers." The deliveries in the busy and crowded streets near the Exchange were as frequent as six or eight times a day ; even in the outskirts, as many as four daily deliveries were made. The penny post was found to be a great and decided success. No sooner, however, was that success apparent, and it was known that the speculation was becoming lucrative to its originator, than the Duke of York, by virtue of the settlement made to him, complained of it as an infraction of his monopoly. Nor were there wanting other reasons, inducing the Government to believe that the penny- post ought not to be under separate management. The Protestants loudly denounced the whole concern as a con- trivance of the Popish party. The great Dr. Oates hinted that the Jesuits were at the bottom of the scheme, and that if the bags were examined, they would be found full of treason.* The city porters, too, complained that their interests were attacked, and for long they tore down the placards which announced the innovation to the public. Undoubtedly, however, the authorities were most moved by the success of the undertaking, and thereupon appealed to the Court of King's Bench, which decided that the new post- office, with all its profits and advantages, should become part and parcel of the royal establishment. Docwray was even cast in slight damages and costs. Thus commenced the London District Post, which existed as a separate establish- ment to the General Post from this time until so late as 1854. It was at first thought that the amalgamation of the two offices would be followed by a fusion of the two systems ; but this fusion, so much desired, and one we • Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. pp. 387-8. William Docwray. 33 would have thought so indispensable, was not accomplished (from a number of considerations to be adduced hereafter), although the object was attempted more than once. About a year after the new establishment had been wrested from him, Mr. Docwray was appointed, under the Duke of York, to the office of Controller of the District- Post. This was doubtless meant as some sort of compensa- tion for the losses he had sustained.* In 1685, Charles II. died, and the Duke of York suc- ceeding him, the_ revenues of the Post-Office, of course, reverted to the Crown. Throughout the reign of the second James, the receipts of the Post-Office went on increasing, though (the King being too much engaged in the internal commotions which disturbed the country) no improvements of any moment were made. The only subject calling for mention is, that James first commenced the practice of granting pensions out of the Post-Office revenue. The year after he ascended the throne, the King, acting doubtless under the wishes of the " merry monarch," that provision should be made for her, granted a pension of 4,700/. a-year to Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, one of the late King's mistresses, to be paid out of the Post-Office receipts. This pension is still paid to the Duke of Grafton, as her living representative. The Earl of Rochester was allowed a pension of 4,000/. a-year from the same source during this reign. In 1694, during the reign of William and Mary, the list of pensions t paid by the Post-Office authorities stood thus ; — Earl of Rochester £'t,°°° Duchess of Cleveland Duke of Leeds . . Duke of Schomberg . Earl of Bath . . . Lord Keeper . . . WiUiam Docwray, till 16 Docwray's pension began in 1694, and was regarded as a * Under William and Mary, Docwray was allowed a pension, dif- ferently stated by different authorities, of 500/. and 200/. a year. t Amongst the Post-Ofiice pensions granted in subsequent reigns, D 4,700 3.500 4,000 ■^,500 2,000 500 34 Her Majesty's Mails'. further acknowledgment of his claims as founder of the " District-post," or the " Penny-post," as it was then called. He only held his pension, however, for four years, losing both his emoluments and his office in 1698, on certain charges of gross mismanagement having been brought against him. The officers and messengers under his control memorialized the Commissioners of the Treasury, alleging that the " Con- troller doth what in him lyes to lessen the revenue of the Penny Post-Office, that he may farm it and get it into his own hands ; " also, that " he had removed^the Post-Office to an inconvenient place to forward his ends." There appears tb have been no limit as to the weight or size of parcels transmitted through the district-post during Docwra/s time, but the memorial goes on to say that " he forbids the taking in of any band-boxes (except very small) and all parcels above a pound ; which, when they were taken in, did bring a considerable advantage to the Post-Office ;" that these same parcels are taken by porters and watermen at a far greater charge, " which is a loss to the public," as the penny-post messengers did the work "much cheaper and more satis- factory." Nor is this all. It is further stated that "he stops, under spetious pretences, most parcells that are taken in, which is great damage to tradesmen by loosing their customers, or spoiling their goods, and many times hazard the life of the patient when physick is sent by a doctor or an apothecary." * It was hinted that the parcels were not only delayed, but misappropriated ; that letters were opened and otherwise tampered with : and these charges being partially substantiated, Docwray, who deserved better treatment, was removed from all connexion with the department. It was only towards the' close of the seventeenth century, that the Scotch and Irish post establishments come at all Queen Anne gave one, in 1707, to the Duke of Marlborough and his heirs of 5,000/. The heirs of the Duke of Schomberg were paid by the Post-Ofiice till 1856, when about 20,000/. were paid to redeem a fourth part of the pension, the burden of the remaining part being then transferred to the Consolidated Fund. * Stowe's Survey of London. The Scotch Post- Office. 35 into notice. The first legislative enactments for the establish- ment of a Scotch post-office were made in the reign of William and Mary. The Scotch Parliament passed such an act in the year 1695. Of course the proclamations of King James I. provided for the conveyance of letters between the capitals of the two countries ; and although posts had been heard of in one or two of the principal roads leading out of Edinburgh, even before James VI. of Scotland became the first English king of that name, it was only after the Revolution that they became permanent and legalized. Judging by the success which had followed the Enghsh establishment, it was expected that a Scotch post would soon pay all its expenses. However, to begin, the King decided upon making a grant of the whole revenue of the Scotch office, as well as a salary of 300/. ayear, to Sir Robert Sinclair, of Stevenson, on condition that hfe would keep up the establishment.* In a year from that date. Sir Robert Sinclair gave up the grant as unprofitable and dis- advantageous. It was long before the Scotch office gave signs of emulating the successes of the Enghsh post, for, even forty years afterwards, the whole yearly revenue of the former was only a little over a thousand pounds. About 1700, the posts between London and Edinburgh were so frequently robbed, especially in the neighbourhood of the bor- ders, that the two Parliaments of England and Scotland jointly passed acts, making the robbery or seizure of the public post " punishable with death and confiscation of moveables." Little is known of the earlier postal arrangements of Ireland. Before any legislative enactments were made in the reign, it is said, of Charles I., the letters of the country were transmitted in much the same way as we have seen they were forwarded in the sister country. The Viceroy of Ireland usually adopted the course common in England when the letters of the King and his Council had to be delivered abroad. The subject is seldom mentioned in contemporary records, and we can only picture in imaging.- * Stark's Picture of Edinburgh, p. 144. D 2 36 Her Majesty s Mails. tion the way in which correspondence was then transmitted. In the sixteenth century, mounted messengers were employed carrying official letters and despatches to dififerent parts of Ireland. Private noblemen also employed these " intelli- gencers,'' as they were then and for some time afterwards called, to carry their letters to other chiefs or their depen- dents. The Earl of Ormond was captured in 1600, owing to the faithlessness of Tyrone's " intelligencer," who first took his letters to the Earl of Desmond and let him privately read them, and afterwards demurely delivered them according to their addresses.* Charles I. ordered that packets should ply weekly between Dublin and Chester, and also between Milford Haven and Waterford, as a means of insuring quick transmission of news and orders between the English Government and Dublin Castle. We have seen that packets sailed between Holyhead and Dublin, and Liverpool and Dubhn, 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 dd., fresh rates being imposed for towns in the interior of Ireland. A new line of packets was established to make up for that discontinued,! to sail between Port Patrick and Donaghadee, forming an easy and short route between Scotland and the north of Ireland. For many years this mail was conveyed in an open boat, each trip across the narrow channel costing the Post-Office a guinea. Sub- sequently, a grant of 200/. was made by the Post-Office in order that a larger boat might be built for the service. This small mail is still continued. * "Letters and Despatches relative to the taking of the Earl of Ormond, by O'More. A. D. 1600." + In 1784, the line of Milford Haven packets was re-established, the rates of postage between London and Waterford to be the same as between London and Dublin, z'/iS^Holyhead. The packets were, how- ever, sooa withdrawn. 37 CHAPTER III. ON OLD ROADS AND SLOW COACHES. If we seem in this chapter to make a divergence from the stream of postal history, it is only to make passing reference to the tributaries which helped to feed the main stream. The condition of the roads, and no less the modes of travelling, bore a most intimate relationship, at all the points in its history, to the development of the post-office system and its communications throughout the kingdom. The seventeenth century, as we have seen, was eventful in important postal improvements ; the period was, com- paratively speaking, very fruitful also in great changes and improvements in the internal character of the country. No question that the progress of the former depended greatly on the state of the latter. James the First, whatever might be his character in other respects, was indefatigable in his exertions to open out the resources of his kingdom. The fathers of civil engineering, such as Vermuyden and Sir Hugh Myddleton, hved during his reign, and both these eminent men were employed under his auspices, either in making roads, draining the fen country, improving the metropolis, or in some other equally useful scheme. The troubles of the succeeding reign had the effect of frustrating the development of various schemes of public utility pro- posed and eagerly sanctioned by James. Under the Com- monwealth, and at intervals during the two succeeding reigns, many useful improvements of no ordinary moment were carried out. 38 Her Majesty's Mails. In the provinces, though considerable advances had been made in this respect during the century, traveUing was still exceedingly difficult. In 1640, perhaps the Dover Road, owing to the great extent of continental traffic constantly kept up, was the best in England ; yet three or four days were usually taken to travel it. In that year, Queen Henrietta and household were brought " with expedition " over that short distance in four long days. Short journeys were accomplished in a reasonable time, inasmuch as little entertainment was required. It was different when a long journey was contemplated, seeing how generally wretched were the hostelries of the period.* So bad, again, were some of the roads, that it was not at all uncommon, when a family intended to travel, for servants to be sent on beforehand to investigate the country and report upon the most promising track. Fuller tells us that during his time he frequently saw as many as six oxen employed in drag- ging slowly a single person to church. Waylen says that 800 horses were taken prisoners at onfe time during the civil wars by Cromwell's forces, " while sticking in the mud." Many improvements were made in modes of conveyance during the century. A kind of stage-coach was first used in London about 1608; towards the middle of the century they were gradually adopted in the metropolis, and on the better highways around London. In no case, however, did they attempt to travel at a greater speed than three miles an hour. Before the century closed, stage-coaches were placed on three of the principal roads in the kingdom, namely those between London and York, Chester, and Exeter. This was only for the summer season; "during winter," in the words of Mr. Smiles, " they did not run at * There were many exceptions, of course. Numbers of innkeepers were also the postmasters of the period. Taylor, the water-poet, traveUing from London into Scotland in the early part of the centuiy, has described one of these men, in his Penniless Pilgrimage, as a model Boniface. Pamphlets on Stage-Coaches. 39 all, but were laid up for the season, like ships during Arctic frosts." Sometimes the roads were so bad, even in summer, that it was all the horses could do to drag the coach along, the passengers, per force, having to walk for miles together. With the York coach especially the difficulties were really- formidable. Not only were the roads bad, but the low midland counties were particularly liable to floods, when, during their prevalence, it was nothing unusual for pas- sengers to remain at some town en route for days together, until the roads were dry. Public opinion was divided as to the merits of stage- coach travelling. When the new threatened altogether to supersede the old mode of travelling on horseback, great opposition was manifested to it, and the organs of public opinion (the pamphlet) began to revile it. In 1673, for instance, a pamphlet * was written which went so far as to denounce the introduction of stage-coaches as the greatest evil " that had happened of late years to these kingdoms.'' Curious to know how these sad consequences had been brought about, we read on and find it stated that " those who travel in these coaches contracted an idle habit of body ; became weary and listless when they had rode a few miles, and were then unable to travel on horseback, and not able to endure frost, snow, or rain, or to lodge in the fields." In the very same year another writer, descanting on the improvements which had been introduced into the Post-Office, goes on to say, that "besides the excellent arrangement of conve)dng men and letters on horseback, there is of late such an admirable commodious fiess, 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 * " The Grand Concern of England explained in several Proposals to Parliament."— Harl. MSS. 1673. 40 Her Majesty's Mails. body by hard jogging or over violent motion ; and this not only at a low price (about a shilling for every five miles), but with such velocity and speed in one hour as that the posts in some foreign countreys cannot make in a day." * M. Soubrifere, a Frenchman of letters who landed at Dover in the reign of Charles II., alludes to stage-coaches, but seems to have thought less of their charms than the author we have just quoted. " That I might not take post," says he, " or again be obliged to use the stage-coach, I went from Dover to London in a wagon. I was drawn by six horses placed one after another, and driven by a wagoner who walked by the side of them. He was clothed in black and appointed in all things hke another St. George. He had a brave monteror on his head, and was a merry fellow, fancied he made a figure, and seemed mightily pleased with himself" The stage-wagon here referred to was almost exclusively used for the conveyance of merchandise. On the principal roads strings of stage-wagons travelled together. A string of stage-wagons travelled between London and Liverpool, starting from the Axe Inn, Aldermanbuiy, every Monday and Thursday, and occupying ten days on the road during summer and generally about twelve in the winter season. Beside these conveyances, there were " strings of horses," travelling somewhat quicker, for the carriage of light goods and passengers. The stage-wagon, as may be supposed, travelled much slower on other roads than they did between London and Liverpool. On most roads, in fact, the carriers never changed horses, but employed the same cattle through- out, however long the journey might be. It was, indeed, so proverbially slow in the north of England, that the publicans of Fumess, in Lancashire, when they saw the conductors of the travelhng merchandise trains appear in sight on the summit of Wrynose Hill, on their journey between White- haven and Kendal, were jocularly said to begin to brew * Chamberlayne's Present History of Great Britain. 1673. Country undeveloped. 41 their beer, always having a stock of good drink manufactured by the time the travellers reached the village ! f Whilst communication between different large towns was comparatively easy — passengers travelling from London to York in less than a week before the close of the century — there were towns situated in the same county, in the year 1700, more widely separated for all practical purposes than London and Inverness are at the present day. If a stranger penetrated into some remote districts about this period, his appearance would call forth, as one writer remarks, as much excitement as would the arrival of a white man in some unknown African village. So it was with Camden in his famous seventeenth-century tour. Camden acknow- ledges that he approached Lancashire from Yorkshire, "that part of the country lying beyond the mountains towards the western ocean," with a '■'■kind of dread" but trusted to Divine Providence, which, he said, " had gone with him hitherto," to help him in the attempt Country people still knew little except of their narrow district, all but a small circle of territory being like a closed book to them. They still received but few letters. Now and then, a necessity would be laid upon them to write, and thereupon they would hurry off to secure the services of the country parson, or some one attached to the great house of the neighbourhood, who generally took the request kindly, t Almost the only intelligence of general affairs was com- municated by pedlars and packmen, who were accustomed to retail news with their wares. The wandering beggar who came to the farmer's house craving a supper and bed was the principal intelligencer of the rural population of * Private coaches were started in London at the time when the stage- or hackney-coaches were introduced, and Mr. Pepys secured one of the first. Mightily proud was he of it, as any reader of his Diary will have learnt to his great amusement. + There are few traces in this country, at any time, of public letter- writers. This is somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as then, and still in some of the southern states of Europe, the profession of public letter- 42 Her Majesty's Mails. Scotland so late as 1780.* The introduction of newspapers formed quite an era in this respect to the gentlefolk of the country, and to some extent the poorer classes shared in the benefit. The first English newspaper published bears the date of 1622. Still earlier than this, the News Letter, copied by the hand, often found its way into the country, and, when well read at the great house of the district, would be sent amongst the principal villagers till its contents became diffused throughout the entire community. When any intelligence unusually interesting was received either in the news letter or the more modern newspaper, the principal proprietor would sometimes cause the villagers- and his immediate dependants to be summoned at once, and would read to them the principal paragraphs from his porch. The reader of English history will have an imperfect com- prehension of the facts of our past national life if he does not know, or remember, how very slowly and imperfectly intelligence of public matters was conveyed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and what a bearing — very difficult to understand in these days — such circum- stances had upon the facts themselves. Thus, a rebellion in one part of the country, which was popular throughout the kingdom, might be quelled before the news of the rising reached another part of the country. Remote districts waited for weeks and months to learn the most important intelligence. Lord Macaulay relates that the news of Queen Elizabeth's death, which was known to King James in three days, was not heard of in some parts of Devonshire and Cornwall till the court of her successor had ceased to wear writer has long been an institution. In England it has never flourished. Some years ago there might have been seen at Wapping, Shadwell, and other localities in London where sailors resorted, announcements in small shop-windows to the effect that letters were written there ' ' to all parts of the world." In one shop a placard was exhibited intimating that a "large assortment of letters on all sorts of subjects" were kept on hand. There were never many, and now very few, traces of the custom. * Chambers' Domestic Annals. Roads in Scotland. 43 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 occur- rence. The churches in the Orkneys continued to put up the usual prayers for him for months after he was beheaded ; whilst their descendants did the same for King James long after he had taken up his abode at St. Germains. In Scotland, all the difficulties in travelling were felt to even a greater degree than in England. There were no regular posts to the extreme north of Scotland, letters going as best they could by occasional travellers and different routes. Nothing could better show the difficulties attendant on locomotion of any sort in Scotland, than the fact that an agreement was entered into in 1678 to run a coach between Edinburgh and Glasgow, to be drawn by six horses, the journey, there and back, to be performed in six days. The distance was only forty-four miles, and the coach tra- velled over the principal post-road in the country ! The reader has thus some idea of the difficulties which stood in the way of efficient postal communication during the seventeenth century. However much the work of the Post-OfFice, and the slow and unequal manner in which correspondence was distributed, may excite the scorn of the present generation, living in the days of cheap and quick postage, they must nevertheless agree with Lord Macaulay in considering that the postal system of the Stuarts was such as might have moved the envy and admi- ration of the polished nations of antiquity, or even of the contemporaries of our own Shakespeare or Raleigh. In Cornwall, Lincolnshire, some parts of Wales, and amongst the hills and dales of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Yorkshire, letters, it is true, were only received once a week, if then; but in numbers of large towns they were delivered two and three times a week. There was daily communication between London and the Downs, and the 44 Her Majesty's Mails. same privileges were extended to Tunbridge Wells and Bath, at the season when those places were crowded with pleasure-seekers.* Accounts survive of the Post-Office as it existed towards the close of the seventeenth century, an outline of which, contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine by a correspondent, in the early part of the present century, we must be excused for here presenting to the reader. The Postmaster-General of the period, under the Duke of York, was at that time the Earl of Arlington. The letters, it would seem, were forwarded from London to different parts on different days. For instance : Every Monday and Tuesday the Continental mails were despatched, part on the former day, the remainder on the latter. Every Saturday letters were sent to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. On other days posts were despatched to the Downs, also to one or two im- portant towns and other smaller places within short dis- tances of London. The London Post-Office was managed by the Postmaster-General and a staff of twenty-seven clerks, t In the provinces of the three countries, there * Lord Macaulay. Vol. i. p. 388, + No less interesting are the particulars of one year's postal revenue and expenditure, extracted from the old account-books of the depart- ment, by the present Receiver and Accountant-General of the Post- Office. The date given is vrithin a year or two of that referred to in the text, viz. 1686-7. The net produce of the year was a little over 76,000/. , and the following is a few of the most important and most suggestive items : — £ s. d. Product of foreign mails for the year 17, 805 i 7 The King's Majesty paid for his foreign letters . . 178 18 4 Product of Harwich packet-boats 950 5 4 The Inland window money amounted to ... 870 4 2 The letter-receivers' money 313 19 8 The letter-carriers' money 3o,497 lo o The Postmaster's money 37,819 8 11 Officers were ^«f(/ to the extent of 13 o o The profits of the Insh Office were 2,419 14 o Ditto Penny-Post 800 o o The Early Accounts of the London Post- Office. 45 were 182 deputy-postmasters. Two packet-boats sailed between England and France ; two were appointed for Flanders, three for Holland, three for Ireland, and at Deal two were engaged for the Downs. " As the masterpiece," so our authority winds up, " of all these grand arrangements, established by the present Postmaster-General, he hath annexed (sic) and appropriated the market-towns of Eng- land so well to the respective postages, that there is no considerable one of them which hath not an easy and certain conveyance for the letters thereof once a week. The Scotch Office appears not only not to have brought in any profits, but we find an item of absolute loss on tlie exchange of money with Edinburgh to the extent of 210/. \os. lad. Amongst the more interesting items of expenditure we notice that — £ s. d. The six clerks in the Foreign Office and about twenty clerks belonging to other departments received per annum 60 o o The salary of the Postmaster-General was . . . 1,500 o o Two officers had ■200/. per annum, a third had 150/., and a fourth had-ioo/. — all four, doubt- less, heads of departments 450 o o There were eight letterjreceivers in London, viz. at Gray's Inn, at Temple Bar, at King Street, at Westminster, in Holbom, in Covent Garden, in Pall Mall, and in the Strand two offices, whose yearly salaries amounted in all to . . 1 10 6 8 The yearly salaries of the whole body of letter- carriers ... . 1)338 15 o The salaries of the deputy-postmasters . . . 5,639 6 o The entire total expenditure was 13,509/. ds. %d. "Thus we find," adds Mr. Scudaraore, "that while the 'whole net produce' of the establishment for a year was not equal to the sum which we derive from the commission on money-orders in a year (Mr. Scudamore is writing of 1854), or to the present 'net produce ' of the single tovra of Liver- pool, so also, the whole expenditure of the whole establishment for a year was but a little larger than the sum which we now pay once a month for salaries to the clerks of the London Office alone. " If we subtract the total expenditure from the "whole net produce," as it is called, we get a sum exceeding 62,000/. as the entire net receipts of the Post-Office for the year 1686-7. 4 6 Her Majesty's Mails. Further, though the number of letters missive was not at all considerable in our ancestors' day, yet it is now so pro- digiously great {and the meanest of people are so beginning to write in consequence) that this office produces in money 60,000/. a year. Besides, letters are forwarded with more expedition, and at less charges, than in any other foreign country. A whole sheet of paper goes 80 miles for two- pence, two sheets for fourpence, and an ounce of letter for but eightpence, and that in so short a time, by night as well as day, that every twenty-four hours the post goes one hundred and twenty miles, and in five days an answer to a letter may be had from a place distant 200 miles from the writer !" 47 CHAPTER IV. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. Ten years after the removal of Docwray from his office in connexion with the " Penny Post," another rival to the Government department sprung up in the shape of a " Halfpenny Post." The arrangements of the new were nearly identical with those of Docwray's post, except that the charges, instead of a penny and twopence, were a half- penny and penny respectively. The scheme, established at considerable expense by a Mr. Povey, never had a fair trial, only existing a few months, when it was nipped in the bud by a law-suit instituted by the Post-Office authorities. In 1 7 1 o, the Acts relating to the Post-Office were com- pletely remodelled, and the establishment was put on an entirely fresh basis. The statutes passed in previous reigns were fully repealed, and the statute of Anne, c. lo, was substituted in their place, the latter remaining in force until 1837. The preamble of the Act just mentioned sets forth, that a Post-Office for England was established in the reign of Charles II. and a Post-Office for Scotland in the reign of King William III. ; but that it is now desirable, since the two countries are united, that the two offices should be united under one head. Also, that packet-boats have been for some time established between England and the West Indies, the mainland of North America, and some parts of Europe, and that more might be settled if only proper arrangements were made " at the diifereflt places to which the packet-boats are assigned." It is further -deemed neces- 48 Her Majesty's Mails. sary that the existing rates of postage should be altered ; that "with little burthen to the subject some may be in- creased" and other new rates granted, "which additional and new rates," it is added, " may in some measure enable Her Majesty to carry on and furnish the present war." Suitable powers are also needed for the better collecting of such rates, as well as provision for preventing the illegal trade carried on by "private posts, carriers, higlers, water- men, drivers of stage-coaches, and other persons, and other frauds to which the revenue is Hable." 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. I. By its provisions a General Post and Letter-Office is established within the City of London, "from whence all letters and packets whatsoever may be with speed and expedition sent into any part of the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to North America and the West Indies, or any other of Her Majesty's dominions, or any country or kingdom beyond the seas," and " at which office all returns and answers may be likewise received." For the better " managing, ordering, collecting, and improving the re- venue," 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 Monopoly of Letter-carrying, &'c. 49 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 consti- tuted by letters patent under the Great Seal, by the name and stile of Her Majesty's Postmaster-General^ " The Postmaster-General shall appoint deputies for the chief offices in the places named above, and he, they, and their servants and agents, and no other person or persons what- soever, shall from time to time, and at all times, have the receiving, taking up, ordering, despatching, sending post with all speed, carrying and delivering of all letters and packets whatsoever." The only exceptions to this clause must be — * (a) When common known carriers bear letters concerning the goods which they are conveying, and which letters are delivered with the goods without any further hire or reward, or .other profit or advantage. (b) When merchants or master-owners of ships send letters in ships concerning the cargoes of such ships, and delivered with them under the self-same circumstances. if) Letters concerning commissions or the returns thereof, affidavits, writs, process or proceeding, or returns thereof, issuing out of any court of justice. (d) Any letter or letters sent by any private friend or friends in their way of journey or travel. 3. The Postmaster-General, and no other person or persons whatever, shall prepare and provide horses or furniture to let out on hire to persons riding post on any of Her Majesty's post-roads,, under penalty of 100/. per week, or 5/. for each offence, t The rates of charge for riding post are settled as follows : — The hire of a post-horse shall be henceforth * These exceptions were again made in the Act i Vic. c. 33. s. -i, nd still remain the law. \ This clause was repealed in the reign of George II. E 50 Her Majesty's Mails. T,d. a mile, and ^d. a mile for a person riding as guide for every stage. Luggage to the weight of 80 pounds allowed, the guide to carry it with him on his horse. 4. The rates of postage under the present Act are settled. s. d. For any single letter or piece of paper to any place in England not exceeding 80 miles 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 ounces 14 From London to Edinburgh and all places in Scotland south of Edinburgh, per single letter ....06 „ ,, ■ double letter ....10 ,, ,, packets, per ounce ..20 The other Scotch posts were calculated from Edinburgh, and charged according to the distance as in England. J. 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 .... o 10 Spain 16 Italy 13 Turkey 13 Germany, Denmark . i o Sweden 10 from London to New York, i o Survey of Post-roads. 5 1 Other rates were charged to other parts of the American continent, according to the distance from New York, at something less than the English rate. 5. The principal deputy postmasters are empowered to erect cross-posts or stages, so that all parts of the country may have equal advantage as far as practicable, but only in cases where the postmasters are assured that such erec- tions will be for " the better maintainance of trade and commerce, and mutual correspondences." 6. A survey of all the post-roads shall be made, so that the distances between any place and the chief office in each country "shall be settled by the same measure and standard." These surveys must be made regularly, " as necessity showeth ; " and when finished, the distances must be fairly shown by " books of surveys" one of which must be kept in each of the head offices, and by each of the surveyors themselves. The surveyors who shall be appointed and authorized to measure the distances must swear to perform the same to the best of their skill and judgment.* 7. Letters may be brought from abroad by private ship, but must be delivered at once into the hands of the deputy postmasters at the respective ports, who will pay the master of such ship a penny for every letter which he may thus deliver up to them. It is hoped that, by these arrangements, merchants will not suffer as they had previously done, by having their letters " imhezilled or long detained, when they had been given into the charge of ignorant and loose hands, that understandeth not the way^ and means of speedy con- veyance and proper deliverance, to the great prejudice of the affairs of merchants and others." 8. The Postmaster-General and the deputy postmasters must qualify themselves, if they have not already done so, by receiving the sacrament according to the usage of the * 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. E 2 5 2 Her Majesty^ s Mails. Church of England ; taking, making, and subscribing the test, and the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and adjuration. It is also decided that the Post-Office officials must not meddle with elections for members of Parliament. The officers of the Post-Office must also qualify themselves for the duties of their office by observing and following such orders, rules, directions, and instructions, concerning the settlements of the posts and stages, and the management of post-horses, and the horsing of all persons riding by royal warrant, as Her Majesty shall see fit from time to time to make and ordain. A short proviso follows concerning the time-honoured privileges of the two English Universities, and guaranteeing the same ; and then we come to an arrangement for the attainment of which object, it would appear (almost ex- clusively), the Post-Office was remodelled in the manner we have shown. 9. "Towards the establishment of a good, sure, and lasting fund, in order to raise a present supply of money for carrying on the war, be it enacted that from the present time, and during the whole term of 32 years, the full, clear, and entire weekly sum of 700/. out of the duties and revenues of the Post-Office shall be paid by the Postmaster- General into the receipts of the Exchequer on the Tuesday of every week." Whatever else was arranged permanently, the increased rates of postage were only meant to be temporary; for at the end of thirty-two years, it was provided that the old rates shall be resorted to. The clause was simply inserted as a war measure, for the purpose of raising revenue, but we shall see that, so far from returning to the old postages, fresh burdens were imposed at the end of that period and from time to time.* * "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 Govern- ment requires a large revenue, and the people do their business with Ralph Allen. 53 The improvements introduced by the bill of 17 10 had the natural effect of increasing the importance of the Post- Office institution, and of adding to the available revenue of the country considerable sums each year. For ten years no further steps were taken to develop the resources of the service; but in 1720 Ralph Allen appears, another and perhaps the most fortunate of all the improvers of the Post- Office. Up to this year, the lines of post had branched off, from London and Edinburgh respectively, on to the principal roads of the two kingdoms ; but the " cross-posts," even when established, had not been efficient, the towns off the main hne of road not being well served, whilst some districts had no direct communication through them. The Post-Office Bill had given facihties for the establishment of more "cross-posts;" but, till 1720, the authorities did not avail themselves of its provisions to any great extent. Mr. Allen, at that time the postmaster of Bath, and who must, from his position, have been well aware of the defects of the existing system, proposed to the Government to establish cross-posts between Exeter and Chester, going by way of Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, connecting in this way the west of England with the Lancashire districts and the mail route to Ireland, and giving independent postal intercommunication to all the important towns lying in the direction to be taken. Previous to this proposal, letters passing between neighbouring towns were conveyed by circuitous routes, often requiring to go to the metropohs and to be sent back again by aliother post-road, thus, in these days of slow locomotion, causing serious delay. Allen proposed a complete reconstruction of the cross- post system, and guaranteed a great improvement to the revenue as well as better accommodation to the country. By his representations, he induced the Lords of the Treasury to grant him a lease of the cross-posts for life. His engage- ments were to bear all the cost of his new service, and pay greater ease, expedition, and cheapness than they would be able to do if no such tax existed." — Com. vol. i. p. 324. 54 Her Majesty's Mails. a fixed rental of 6,000/. a-year, on which terms he was to retain all the surplus revenue. From time to time the contract was renewed, but of course at the same rental; each time, however, the Government required Allen to include other branches of road in his engagement, so that at his death, in 1764, the cross-posts had extended to all parts of the country. Towards the last, the private project had become so gigantic as to be nearly unmanageable, and it was with something like satisfaction that the Post-Office authorities saw it lapse to the Crown. At this time it was considered one of the chief duties of the surveyors — ^whose business it was to visit each deputy postmaster in the course of the year — to see that the distinction between the bye- letters of the cross-posts, the postage of which belonged to Mr. Allen, and the postage of the general post letters, which belonged to the Government, was properly kept up. The deputies were known to hold the loosest notions on this subject, some of them preferring to appropriate the revenues of one or the other post rather than make mistakes in the matter. The disputes and difficulties lasted to the death of Allen.* Nothwithstanding the losses he must have * At this time, and for some years subsequently, the mails were carried on horseback in charge of post-boys. Some of these post-boys were sad rogues, who, besides taking advantage of confusion in the two posts, were accustomed to carry letters themselves concealed upon them and for charges of course quite unorthodox. In old records of the Post-Office, principally the Surveyor's Book, referring to country post-offices from the year 1735, there are long complaints from the surveyor on this head. The following, "exhibiting more malice thair good grammar," may be taken as a specimen, and will suffice to show the way things were managed at that date : — " At this place (Salisbury) found the post-boys to have carried on vile practices in taking the hye- lettei-s, delivering them in this cittye and taking back answers, especially the Andover riders. On the 15th found on Richard Kent, one of the Andover riders, 5 bye-letters, all for this cittye. Upon examining the fellow, he confessed he had made it a practice, and persisted to continue in it, saying he had noe wages from his master. I took the fellow before the Magistrate, proved the facts, and he was committed, but pleading to have no money or friends, desired a pmiishment to be Fielding's '' Allworthy." 55 suffered through the dishonesty or carelessness of country- postmasters, the farmer of the cross-posts, in an account which he left at his death, estimated the net profits of his contract at the sum of 10,000/. annually, a sum which, during his official life, amounted in the total to nearly half a million sterHng ! Whilst, in official quarters, his success was greatly envied, Mr. Allen commanded, in his private capacity, universal respect. In the only short account we have seen of this estimable man, a contemporary writer states * that " he was not more remarkable for the ingenuity and industry with which he made a very large fortune, than for the charity, generosity, and kindness with which he spent it." It is certain that Allen bestowed a considerable part of his income in works of charity, especially in supporting needy men of letters. He was a great friend and benefactor of Fielding ; and in Tom Jones, the novelist has gratefully drawn Mr. Allen's character in the person of Allworthy. He enjoyed the friendship of Chatham and Pitt ; and Pope, Warburton, and other men of literary distinction, were his familiar companions. Pope has celebrated one of his prin- cipal virtues, unassuming benevolence, in the well-known lines : — ' ' Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, Do good by stealth, and blush to find its fame. " On the death of Allen, the cross-posts were brought under the control of the Postmaster-General. An oflScer, Mr. Ward, was appointed to take charge of the Bye-letter Office, whipped, which accordingly he was to the purpose. Wrote the case to Andover and ordered the fellow to be dismissed, but no regard was had thereto, but the next day the same rider came post, ran about the cittye for letters and was insolent. Again he came post with two gentlemen, made it his business to take up letters ; the fellow, however, instead of returning to Andover, gets two idle fellows and rides off with three horses, which was a return for his master not obeying my instructions." Our shrewd surveyor thus amply got his revenge, and the Post-Office and Mr. Allen suffer no more from the delinquencies of Richard Kent. — From Mr. Scudamore^s Notes. * Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1760. 56 Her Majesty s Mails. as the branch was now called, at the salary of 300/. a-year. The success of the amalgamation scheme was so complete, that at the end df the first year, profits to the amount of 20,000/. were handed over to the Crown. Afterwards, the proceeds continued to increase even still more rapidly ; so much so, that when, in 1799, the "Bye-letter Office" was abolished, and its management transferred to the General Office, they had reached the enormous yearly sum of 200,000/. ! At the revision of the Post-Office in 17 10, the bounds of the penny post were extended, as we have seen, to a district within ten miles of the General Post-Office. This extension was granted on a rnemorial from several townships in the London district, who volunteered, if such extension were made, that they would pay an extra penny for every letter delivered beyond " the boundaries of the cities of London and Westminster, and the borough of Southwark." Numerous disputes having arisen owing to the wording of the Act, and many inhabitants claiming in consequence to have their letters delivered free within the ten-mile circuit, a supple- mentary Act was passed in 1727, ^''for the obviating and taking away such doubts^' as to what was the proper charge, and directing that the " penny postmen " must not dehver any letters out of the original limits, but may detain or delay such letters or packets, unless an extra penny were paid for each on delivery. The statute of Queen Anne provided that a weekly pay- ment of 700/. should be made to the Exchequer from the Post-Office for a period of thirty-two years. This term having expired in 1743, an Act was passed in that year making the payment perpetual, and all clauses, powers, &c. in the Act of 17 11 were also made perpetual. In order to keep up this source of revenue, which was too good to relinquish, the rates of postage, instead of being lowered again as stipulated, were kept up, and several times during subsequent years, as we shall see, fresh additions were made to the burdens of letter-writers. While on this subject, we Disposal of Post- Office Revenue. 57 may simply state the clause of Queen Anne's Act relating to the disposal of the surplus revenue. All pensions were to be paid out of it, and the remainder retained by the Queen " for the better support of Her Majesty's household, and for the honour and dignity of the Crown of Great Britain." On the accession of George I. a bill, granting the same rights and privileges during the King's lifetime, was passed in the first session of ParUament. In the first year of the reign of George II. and his grandson George III. the same rights and privileges were obtained under the self- same conditions. Though the conditions of the following Act were, in reality, carried out several years previously, when a salary of 700,000/. 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 hfetime, " the entire net revenue of the Post-Office shall be carried to and made part of the fund, to be called ' the Consolidated Fund. ' " It is scarcely needful to say that this arrangement has existed from 1787 to the present time. From the date of Allen's improvement in 1720 to the year 1761, when the postage of letters was again disturbed and many other alterations made, little of special im- portance was done in the Post-Office, and we cannot do better than take advantage of this quiet time to give some account of the internal arrangements of the establishment, and to notice certain minutiae, which, though trifling in them- selves, will serve to give the reader an insight into the details, the way and means, of this early period.* In the time of George I. the officers of the Post-Office in London consisted of two Postmasters-General, with a secretary and a clerk. There were four chief officers in the Inland- office — viz. a controller, a receiver, an accountant, and a * Mr. Scudamore, of the General Post-OfSce, to whom we are indebted for much of the minutuB in question, has been successful in his efforts to preserve permanently some of the old records of the Post- Office ; and the result of his labours may be found in the Appendix to the Postmaster-General's First Report. 58 Her Majesty's Mails. solicitor. The staff of clerks consisted of seven for the different roads — Chester, North West, Bristol, Yarmouth, Kent, and Kent night-road. Thirteen clerks were engaged in other duties, and three more clerks attended at the window to answer inquiries and deliver letters. The foreign office, which was a separate department, included a controller and an alphabet keeper, with eight assistant clerks. The whole London establishment, which at the present day numbers several thousand officers of different grades, was then, without counting letter-carriers, worked with a staff of thirty-two. "To show the method, diligence, and exactness of our General Post-Office," says a writer of the period, " and the due despatch of the post at each stage, take this specimen." And for our purpose we cannot do better than take Stowe's advice, and insert here a copy of a Post-Office proclama- tion to postmasters and time-bill, given in his History of London : — " Whereas the management of the postage of the letters of Great Britain and Ireland is committed to our care and conduct : these are therefore in His Majest/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." * * Son of the James Craggs who succeeded Addison as Secretary of State, and who obtained such an unusual portion of the poetical praise of Pope. The son came in for a share also, as, for example : — " Statesman, yet friend to truth ! of soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honour clear." Proclamation and lime-bill. 59 to the several postmasters betwixt london and east Grinstead. Haste, Haste, Post Haste ! Miles. i6 From the Letter-Office at half an hour 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 after eight, and sent away at nine. Chas. Castleman. Received at Rygate half an hour past ten, and sent away again at eleven. John Bullock. Received at East Grinstead at half an hour after three in the afternoon. The speed at which the East Grinstead mail travelled was greater than usual : few post-boys, in the provinces at any rate, were required to go at a greater rate than three or four miles an hour. Not only this, but the boys as a rule were without discipline ; difficult to control ; sauntered on the road at pleasure, and were quite an easy prey to any robber or ill-disposed persons who might think it worth their while to interfere with them. About this time, we find the Post-Office surveyor complaining dolorously to head- quarters, that the gentry " doe give much money to the riders, whereby they be very subject to get in liqiior, which slopes the males." Expresses at that time travelled some- what quicker, but still not quick enough for some persons. On one occasion, Mr. Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford) complained of delay in an express which had been sent to him ; but the Postmasters-General thought there were no grounds for complaint, inasmuch " as it had travelled 136 miles in 2fi hours, which,'' added they, " is the usual rate of expresses." 6o Her Majesty's Mails. In the year 1696, the Treasury sanctioned an arrangement for conveying the mails between Bristol and Exeter, twice a week, under the stipulation that the distance of sixty-five miles should be performed in twenty-four hours ! In Scotland, about the same time, this work was done even slower, and with greater hardships. The post-boy walked all distances under twenty miles ; longer distances required that the messenger should be mounted, though no relays of horses were allowed, however long and tedious the journey might be.* At this time, it was only a secondary consideration, when or how letters should be delivered. For a number of years the authorities were simply bent on raising revenue out of the Post-Office. Thus, about the period of which we are speaking, a request was made to the authorities from certain inhabitants of Warwick, that the London letters for that place should be sent direct to Warwick and not through Coventry, by which latter route a great many hours were lost. A decided negative was returned to this very reason- able request, and for the following cogent official reason, which exhibits well the exacting tendencies of the Govern- ment. " From London to Warwick, through Coventry, is more than eighty miles,'' say the Postmasters-General ; " so that we can charge 6d. per letter going that way, whereas we could only charge ^d. if they went direct." No doubt this reply is given to the Lords of the Treasury, through whom all such applications as the foregoing had then, and * Campbell, in his Tales of the Highlands, relates two or three incidents which show that little improvement had taken place in post communications in some part of Scotland even a hundred years later. The English order of posts and express posts seem there to have been reversed, express work being done the worst. For instance : "Near Inverary, we regained a spot of comparative civilization, and came up with the post-boy, whose horse was quietly grazing at some distance, whilst Red Jacket himself was immersed in play with other lads. ' You rascal, ' I said to him, ' are you the post-boy and thus spending your time ? ' ' Nae, nae, sir,' he answered, ' I'm no the post, I'm only an Express !' " Two Postmasters- General. 6i still have, to pass ; for it cannot be imagined that they gave this reply to the people of Warwick themselves. " Perhaps, however," add the Post-Office officials, with some glimmer- ing idea of the true business principle, " we might get more letters at the cheaper rate." Present profits, nevertheless, could not be sacrificed, even though there should be a prospect of increased future revenue. Another instance is on record, proving that in this respect the Post-Office authorities of the period were wiser than the executive that held them in check. The Postmasters-General apply (fruit- lessly however) to the Treasury to lower the rates of postage in a particular district, and in urging their request, state that "we have, indeed, found by experience, that where we have made the correspondence more easie and cheape, the number of letters has been thereby much increased, and therefore we do believe such a settlement may be attended with a like effect in these parts." The Treasury Lords are slow to sanction what appeared to them to be a sacrifice of revenue, and from the frequent apphcations which were made to them by deputy post- masters in the early part of last century to settle accounts of long standing, or remit the arrears owing to the Govern- ment, we may imagine that their hands were full and their temper soured. Many postmasters in the West of England now petitioned the Treasury to the effect that they had been nearly ruined in the times of His Majesty King William, " through much spoiling of their horses by officers riding-post in the late blessed Revolution." Others grumble at the lowness of their salaries. It was all very well, they argued, that the deputies, during the civil- wars or at the Revolution, should be contented with low salaries, because they were exempted from having soldiers quartered upon them, but now that the time of peace had come, they sub- mitted that their salaries should be raised. The Act of Queen Anne provided for one Postmaster- General. How it came to be altered is not clear; but it is nevertheless certain that, for the greater part of the 6 2 Her Majesty's Mails. eighteenth century, the office was jointly held by two chiefs. All letters and mandates bore the signature of both of them ; though it seems probable that the work of the office was equitably divided between the two gentlemen, the one taking charge principally of the inland business, while the other managed the packets. The duties of the latter department were much more onerous than might be sup- posed, when viewed in the light of the history of that period. As we have not yet directed attention to this department of the Post-Office, we may here state that some curious accounts survive of the infancy of the postal sea- service, during the former part of last century, when Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Frankland shared its management. In those sad times when war was raging, and French privateers covered every sea, our Postmasters- General were anxious, though shrewd and active men. The general orders to the captains of the vessels under their control were such as, under the circumstances, they ought to be : " You must run while you can, fight when you can no longer run, and throw the mails overboard when fighting will no longer avail." Notwithstanding such an order, and on account of so many mails travelling short of their destination, the Postmasters-General resolve to build swift packet-boats that shall escape the enemy ; but in their inexperience, they get them built so low in the water, that shortly afterwards, "we doe find that in blowing weather they take in soe much water that the men are constantly wet through, and can noe ways goe below, being obUged to keep the hatches shut to save the vessel from sinking." It is clear that better and stronger boats must be built, and stronger boats are built accordingly. To make up for the expense, they order that the freight of passengers shall be raised, though " recruits and indigent persons shall still have their passage free." It is noteworthy here, that about this time no political refugee seeking an asylum in England is ever hard pressed for a fare on the continental packet-boats, but an entry is made in the agent's letter-book that so and Postal Sea Service. 63 so " have not wherewithal to pay their charges," and are sent on their path to hberty without further question. Every provision is supplied by the authorities in London, and salaries and pensions of all kinds are granted. Thus, in one place, a chaplain is appointed for the crew of one of the packets, with a small stipend, " for doing their offices of births, marriage, and burial." Pensions for wounds received in the service are granted with nice discrimination of the relative parts of the body. In a letter to their agent at Falmouth, the Postmasters-General send a scale of pensions to be granted according to the kind of wound — thus : " For every arm or leg amputated above the elbow or knee, L.8 per annum; below the arm or knee, twenty nobles. Loss of the sight of one eye must be L.4 ; of the pupil of the eye, L.5 ; of the sight of both eyes, L. 12 ; of the pupils of both eyes, L.14; and according to these rules, we consider also how much also the hurts affect the body, and make the allowances accordingly." The duties devolving upon the chief Post-Office officials seem not only to have been onerous and heavy — some of their instructions to their agents bearing dates from the middle of the night and other extraordinary hours — but curiously varied. Many of their letters are preserved among the old records in the vaults under the General Post-Office, and some of them are quite sad and plaintive in their tone. " We are concerned," they say to one agent, " to iind the letters brought by your boat [one from the West Indies] to be so consumed by the ratts, that we cannot find out to whom they belong." Another letter to their agent at Harwich is evidently disci- plinary, and runs as follows : — " Mr. Edisbury — The woman whose complaint we here- with send you, having given us much trouble upon the same, we desire you will inquire into the same, and see justice done her, believing she may have had her brandy stole from her by the sailors. — We are your affectionate friends [!], R. C, T. F." 64 Her Majesty s Mails. It would be difficult to fancy such a letter as the above proceeding from officialdom in the year of grace eighteen hundred and sixty-four. In another letter we find the autho- rities affectionately scolding an agent because " he had not provided a sufficiency of pork and beef for the prince" (who this pork-loving prince was does not appear) ; in another, because " he had bought powder at Falmouth that would have been so much cheaper in London.'' In other cases they act as public guardians of morality and loyalty, sus- pending one because " he had stirred up a mutiny between a captain and his men, which was unhandsome conduct in him;" bringing one Captain Clies to trial, inasmuch as "he had 3|)oken words reflecting on the royal family, which the Postmasters-General took particular unkind of him" and can by no means allow ; and reprimanding another captain for " breaking open the portmanteau of a gentleman-passenger, and spoiling him of a parcel of snuffi" What with all these cares and duties, the Postmasters-General of those days could scarcely have had an easy time of it." This sole control over the resources of the packet-service explains much in the history of the franking system, which would be quite unintelligible without the information just given. The Treasury warrants of that day franked the strangest commodities — articles which certainly would not be dropped into any letter-box, and which would neither be stamped nor sorted in the orthodox way. The following list of a few franked commodities is culled from a still larger number of such in the packet "agent's book,'' found amongst the old records to which reference has already been made : — " Imprimis. Fifteen couple of hounds, going to the King of the Romans with a free pass. "■"^ Item. Two maid servants, going as laundresses to my. Lord Ambassador Methuen. " Item. Doctor Crichton, carrying with him a cow and divers necessaries. Letter-franking Reflations. 65 " Item. Two bales of stockings, for the use of the Am- bassador to the Crown of Portugal.* " Item. A deal case, with ffour flitches of bacon, for Mr. Pennington of Rotterdam." Whilst referring to the subject of letter-franking, we may as well notice here, that before the control of the packet- service passed out of the hands of the Post-Office autho- rities, and when the right of franking letters became the subject of legislative enactments, we hear no more of these curious consignments of goods. The franking system was henceforth confined to passing free through the post any letter which should be indorsed on the cover with the signature of a member of either House of Parliament. As it was not then made a rule absolute that Parliament should be in session, or that the correspondence should necessarily be on the affairs of the nation in order to insure immunity from postage, this arrangement led to various forms of abuse. Members signed huge packets of covers at once, and supplied them to friends and adherents in large quantities. Sometimes they were sold. They have been known to have been given to servants in lieu of wages, the servants selling them again in the ordinary way of business. Nor was this all. So little precaution seems to have been used, that thousands of letters passed through the Post-Office with forged signatures of members.t To such an extent did this and kindred abuses accumulate, * What the Right Hon. John Methuen wanted with two bales of stockings is, of course, a mystery, if he was not embarliing in the haberdashery line. It may be he was desirous of regaining the favour of the Portuguese Court, by supplying the whole with English stockings. This was the Methuen who gave his name to a well-known treaty, which, by the way, was found so distasteful to the Portuguese that when, in 1 701, he carried it to Pedro II. for his signature, that monarch gave vent to his displeasure by kicking it about the room. — Marlborough Despatches, vol. v. p. 625. i' At thfe investigation in 1763 it was related that "one man had, in the course of five months, counterfeited 1,200 dozens of franks of different members of Patliament." F 66 Her Majesty's Mails. that, in 1763, the worth of franked correspondence passing through the post was estimated at 170,000/. During the next year — viz. in 1764 — Parliament enacted that no letter should pass free through the Post-Office unless the whole address was in the member's own handwriting and his sig- nature attached likewise. Even these precautions, though lessening the frauds, were not sufficient to meet the evil, for fresh regulations were thought necessary in 1784. This time it was ordered that all franks should be dated, the month to be given in full ; and further, that all such letters should be put into the post on the day they were dated. From 1784 to the date of penny postage no further regu- lations were made concerning the franked correspondence, the estimated value of which during these years was 80,000/. annually. The rates of postage ordered by the Government of Queen Anne continued in force for eighteen years after it was designed by the Act that they should cease, and it was only in 1761, at the commencement of the reign of George III., that any alteration was made. Even then the rates were increased instead of diminished, i Geo. III. c. 25 provides, that the improvement of correspondence is a matter of such great concernment and so highly necessary for the extension of trade and commerce, that the statutes of Queen Anne need repealing to some extent, and especially as, through vast accessions of territory, no posts and post- rates are arranged to all his Majesty's dominions. The improvements and alterations made at this time may thus be summed up, viz. ; — 1. Additions are made to the vessels on the American station. Other and cheaper rates of postage are established between London and North America and all his Majesty's territories in America. 2. Concerning letters brought by private ships from any foreign part, no ship or vessel shall be permitted to make entry in any port of Great Britain, or to unload any of its cargo, until all letters and packets brought by such ship, Increased Postage Rates. 6 7 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 per- formance of quarantine,'' the first step must be to deliver the letters into the hands of the superintendent of the quarantine, to be by him despatched to the Post-Office. A penalty of 20/. 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 arrange- ments 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 : — .>. d. For the conveyance of every single letter not exceeding IS miles 01 ,, ,, double letter 02 ,, ,, ounce 04 ,, ,, single letter, 30 miles and under 40 miles o i ,, ,, double letter 04 ,, ,, ounce 08 ,, „ single letter, 40 miles and under 80 miles 03 ,, ,, 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.* * As an example of the summary proceedings of those days, we may fiere just note the remarks which Mr. Pitt made in his place in Parlia- ment when he proposed this increase, calculating that the change would produce at least 120,000/. additional revenue out of the Post-OfSce. F 2 The 68 Her 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 autho- rities should have a reasonable hope that the proposed post would yield sufficient to pay for its maintenance — a thing considered settled if the receipts on its first establishment would pay two-thirds of the entire charges. 6. The weight of any packet or letter to be sent by the London penny-post, or any of the new penny-posts to be estabUshed under this improved Act, must not now exceed four ounces. In 1749, the Act restraining any other but officers of the Post-Office from letting out horses to hire for the purpose of riding post,, is stated not to refer to cases where chaises, " calashes," or any other vehicles, are furnished. Vehicles to drive may be provided on either post-roads or elsewhere by any person choosing to engage in the trade. In 1779, The tax upon letters, said he, could be calculated with a great degree of certainty, and the changes he had to propose would by no means reduce the number sent. It was idle to suppose that the public would grumble in having to paypist one penny additional for valuable letters safly and expeditiously conveyed. He proposed "to charge all letters that went one stage and which now paid one penny in future the sum of id., and this would bring in the sum of 6, ■230/. AU that now pay id. 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. 'I he Scotch Post- Office. 69 all Acts giving exclusive privileges to the Postmaster-General and his deputies as to the letting of '^oiX-horses for hire are henceforth repealed. In the year 1766 the first penny-post was established in Edinburgh by one Peter Williamson, a native of Aberdeen. He kept a coffee-shop in the hall of the Parliament House, and as he was frequently employed by gentlemen attending the courts in sending letters to different parts of the city, and as he had doubtless heard something of the English penny-posts, he began a regular post with hourly deliveries, and established agents at different parts of the city to collect letters. He employed four carriers, who appeared in uniform, to take the letters from the different agents, and then to deliver them as addressed. For both these purposes they were accustomed to ring a bell as they proceeded, in order to give due notice of their approach. The under- taking was so successful, that other speculators were induced to set up rival establishments, which, of course, led to great confusion. The authorities saw the success of the under- taking, and, aware of its importance, they succeeded in in- ducing Williamson to take a pension for the good-will of his concern, and then merged it in the general establishment. We cannot attempt more than a short resume of the incidents in the previous history of the Scotch Post-Office, although the annals of the seventeenth century contain little of interest, and might, therefore, soon be presented to the reader. The first regular letter-post was established in the reign of James I. (of England). In 1642, owing to the sending of forces from Scotland to put down the Irish Rebellion, it was found that the post arrangements in the south-west of Scotland were defective in the extreme. The Scotch Council proposed to establish a line of posts between Edinburgh and Portpatrick, and Portpatrick and Carlisle, and the English, being more immediately concerned in the Rebellion, agreed to bear the whole expense.* In the Privy * Domestic Annals of Scotland. By Mr. R. Chambers. Vol. ii. p. 142. 70 Her Majesty's Mails. Council records of the period, we find a list of persons recommended by the Commissioners for appointment on the two lines of road as postmasters, " such persons being the only ones fit for that employment, as being innkeepers and of approved honesty." Seven years afterwards we' find the Post-Office at Edinburgh was under the care of John Mean, husband of the woman who discharged her stool at the bishop's head when the service-book was introduced into St. Giles's in 1637. He seems to have himself borne the charges of attending to the office " without any reason- able allowance therefor;" and petitioning the Committee of Estates to that effect, they allowed him to retain the " eighth penny on all letters sent from Edinburgh to London (no great number), and the fourth penny upon all those coming from London to Edinburgh.'' At the Restoration the office was bestowed on Robert Main, and considerable improvements were made under his management, although only with existing posts. Little was done for other parts of Scotland. A traveller in Scotland so late as 1688, com- menting on the absence of stage or other coaches on most Scotch roads, says,* that " this carriage of persons from place to place might be better spared, were there oppor- tunities and means for the speedier conveyance of business by letters. They have no horse-posts besides those which ply between Berwick and Edinburgh, and Edinburgh and Portpatrick for the Irish packets. . . . From Edinburgh to Perth, and so on to other places, they use foot-posts and carriers, which, though a slow way of communicating our concerns to one another, yet is such as they acquiesce in till they have a better'' Our traveller is somewhat wrong in his date, for in 1667 a horse-post to Aberdeen from Edinburgh, twice a week, was started, with the consent of Patrick Graham, of Inchbrakie, his Majesty's Postmaster-General, " for the timous delivery of letters and receiving retunis of the samen." Two years afterwards Inverness got dissatisfied with the want of postal communication, when Robert Main * A Short Account of Scotland, published in London in 1703. The Edinburgh Post- Office. 7 1 the Edinburgh postmaster, was commissioned to establish a constant foot-post between Edinburgh and Inverness, going once a week, "wind and weather serving."* " Wind and weather serving" is an amusing qualification, as pointed out by Mr. Chambers, considering that there was only one ferry of six or seven miles, and another of two miles, to cross. In 1661, we find the Edinburgh postmaster useful in another capacity, for in that year the Privy Council grant a warrant to him " to put to print and publish ane diurnal weekly, for preventing false news which may be invented by evil and disaffected persons." We must now pass over many years, as not offering any incidents of any moment. In the year 1730 we find that the Scotch establishment yielded the sum of 1,194/. as the whole gross revenue. From about the year 1750, the mails began to be carried from stage to stage, as in England, by relays of fresh horses and different post-boys, though not entirely to the exclusion of the post-runners, of whom we have previously spoken. In 1723, the Edinburgh Post-Office occupied the first- floor of a house near the cross, above an alley which still bears the name of the Post-Office Close. It was afterwards removed to a floor on the south side of the Parliament Square, which was fitted up shop-fashion, and where the letters were given out from behind an ordinary shop counter, one letter-carrier doing all the out-door work. The Post- Office was removed to its present situation in 182 1. To- wards the close of 1865, it is expected, the handsome * The wording of the qualifying clauses in the proclamations of stage-coaches, &c. are very various, and sometimes exceedingly amusing. In England the Divine Hand was generally recognised in the formula of "God willing," or, "If God should permit." On the contrary, the human element certainly preponderated — whether it was meant so or not — in the announcement made by a carrying communication between Edinburgh and a northern burgh, when it was given out that ' ' a waggon would leave the Grass market for Inverness every Tuesday, God willing, but on Wednesday whether or no" 7 2 Her Majesty's Mails. building now rising up near the old office will be finished and opened for postal purposes.* Even less interest attaches to the early annals of the Irish Post-Office. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was certainly more remunerative than the Scotch, though much less remunerative than the English departments. Previous to the introduction of mail-coaches, all mails were conveyed, or supposed to be conveyed, by the postmasters, to whom certain special allowances were made for each particular service. " There were no contracts, and no fixed rules as to time. Three miles and a half (per hour) seems to have been the pace acknowledged to have been sufficient. The bags were usually conveyed by boys. In the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis, some sort of cart was used, but with this exception the bags were carried either on ponies or mules, or on foof't The same authority tells us further that, " at this time, the bags were carried to Cork, Belfast, Limerick, and Waterford, six days a week ; and three days a week to Galway, Wexford, and Enniskillen. There were three posts to Killamey ; but for this the Government refused to pay anything. The post- master had a salary of 3/. a-year, but the mail was carried by foot-messengers, who were maintained at the cost of the inhabitants and of the news-printers in Cork. Carrick-on- Shannon was the only town in county Leitrim receiving a mail, and this it did twice a week. Now it has two every day. Except at the county-town, there was no post-office in the whole county of Shgo ; and there were but sixteen in the province of Connaught, where there are now one hun- dred and seventy-one.'' * It will be remembered that the late lamented Prince Consort laid the foundation-stone of this structure in 1862, being the last occasion on which he assisted at any public ceremony. For further information of the Scotch Ofifice, see Mr. Lang's Historical Summary of the Post- Office in Scotland. i" Appendix to Postmaster- General's Third Report, supplied by Mr. Anthony TroUope, then one of the Post-Office Surveyors for Ireland. 73 CHAPTER V. PALMER AND THE MAIL-COACH ERA. We have now arrived at a most important epoch in the history of the EngKsh Post-Office. Fifteen years after the death of Mr. Allen, John Palmer, one of the greatest of the early post-reformers rose into notice. To give anything approaching to a proper account of the eminent services that Palmer rendered towards the development of the resources of the Post-Office, it is requisite that we notice the improvements which had been made up to his time in the internal communications of the country. Trade and com- merce, more than ever active, were the means of opening out the country in all directions. Civil engineering had now acquired the importance and dignity of a profession. This was the age of Brindley and Smeaton, Rennie and Telford, Watt and Boulton. Roads were being made in even the comparatively remote districts of England ; bridges were built in all parts of the country ; the Bridgewater and other canals were opened for traffic, whilst many more were laid out. And what is perhaps more germane to our special subject, many improvements were apparent in the means of conveyance during the same period.* While, on the one * No one who has read Roderick Random can forget the novelist's description of his hero's ride from Scotland to London. As it is generally believed to be a veritable account of a journey virhich Smollett himself made about the middle of the last century, the reader may be of opinion that the improvement here spoken of v\'as not so great as it might have been. Roderick, hovifever, travelled in the "stage-waggon^'' of the period. He and his faithful friend Strap having observed one of 74 Her Majesty's Mails. hand, the ordinary stage-coach had found its way on to every considerable road, and was still equal to the usual requirements, the speed at which it travelled did not at all satisfy the enterprising merchants of Lancashire and York- shire. So early as 1754, a company of merchants in Man- chester started a new vehicle, called the " Flying Coach," which seems to have owed its designation to the fact that the proprietors contemplated an acceleration in the speed of the new conveyance to four or five miles an hour. It started these waggons a quarter of a mile before them, speedily overtook it, and, ascending by means of the usual ladder, ' ' tumbled into the straw under the darkness of the tilt, " amidst four passengers, two gentlemen and two ladies. When they arrived at the first inn Captain Weazel desired a room for himself and his lady, "with a separate supper ;" but the impartial innkeeper replied he " had prepared victuals for the passengers in the waggon, without respect of persons." Strap walked by the side of the waggon, changing places with his master when Roderick was disposed to walk. The mistakes, the quarrels, and the mirth of the pa.ssengers, are told by the novelist with a vivacity and humour which would have been admirable but for their coarseness. After five days' rumbling in the straw, the passengers get quite reconciled to each other ; ' ' nothing remarkable happened during the remaining part of our journey, which continued six or seven days longer," There were also a few bad roads. Arthur Young, in his famous Tour in the North of England, has described a Lancashire turnpike- road of about the same period in the following vigorous phraseology : — " I know not in the whole range of language terms sufficiently expressive to describe this infernal road. To look over a map and perceive that it is a principal road, one would naturally conclude it to be at least decent ; but let me most seriously caution all travellers who may purpose to travel this terrible country to avoid it as they would the devil, for a. thousand to one they will break their necks or their limbs by over- throws or breakings-down. They will here meet with ruts which actually measured four feet deep and floating with mud, and this only from a wet summer ; what, therefore, must it be after a winter ? The only mending which it in places receives is the tumbling in some loose stones, which serve no other purpose but jolting a carriage in the most intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions, but facts, for I actually passed three carts broken down in these eighteen miles of execrable memory." The road in question v/as that between Wigan and Preston, then a regular post-road and now on the trunk line of mail conveyance into Scotland. " Flying Coaches.^' < 75 with the following remarkable prospectus : — " However in- credible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring accidents) arrive in London in four days and a half after leaving Manchester." In the same year a new coach was brought out in Edinburgh, but the speed at which it travelled was no improvement on the old rate. It was of better appearance, however ; and the announcement heralding its introduction to the Edinburgh pubhc 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."* Three years afterwards, the Liverpool merchants established another "flpng machine on steel springs," which was designed to, and which really did, echpse the Manchester one in the matter of speed, f Three days only were allowed for the journey between Liverpool and London. Sheffield and Leeds followed with their respective " fly-coaches," and by the year 1784 they had not only become quite common, but most of them had acquired the respectable velocity of eight miles an hour. The post-boy on horseback travelling at the rate of three or four miles an hour, had been an institution since the days of Charles II., and now, towards the close of the eighteenth century, the Post-Office was still clinging to the old system. It was destined, however, that Mr. Palmer should bring about a grand change. Originally a brewer, Mr. Palmer was, in 1784, the manager of the Bath and Bristol theatres. He seems to have known Mr. Allen, and to have been fully acquainted with his fortunate Post- Office speculations. In this way, to some extent, but much more, doubtless, through his public capacity as manager of two large theatres, he became acquainted with the crude * Chambers' Traditions of Edinburgh, vol. i, p. 168. t Baiues's History of Lancashire, p. 83. 76 Her Majesty's Mails. postal arrangements of the period. Having frequently to correspond with the theatrical stars of the metropoHs, and also to journey between London and the then centres of trade and fashion, he noticed how superior the arrangements were for travelling to those under which the Post-Office work was done, and he conceived the idea of improvements. Palmer found that letters, for instance, which left Bath on Monday night were not delivered in London until Wednes- day afternoon or night ; but the stage-coach which left through the day on Monday, arrived in London on the following morning.* Not only did the existing system of mail conveyance strike him as being exceedingly slow, but insecure and otherwise defective. As he afterwards pointed out, he noticed that when tradesmen were particularly anxious to have a valuable letter conveyed with speed and safety, they never thought of giving it into the safe keeping of the Post-Office, but were in the habit of enclosing it in a brown paper parcel and sending it by the coach : nor were they deterred from this practice by having, to pay a rate of carriage for it far higher than that charged for a post-letter. Robberies of the mails were so frequent, that even to adopt the precaution recommended by the Post- Office authorities, and send valuable remittances such as a bank note, bills of exchange, &c. at twice, was a source of endless trouble and annoyance, if it did not prove entirely ineffective. Who can wonder at the Post-Office robberies when the carelessness and incompetency of the servants of the Post-Office were taken into account % A curious robbery of the Portsmouth mail in 1757 illustrates the careless manner in which the duty was done. The boy who carried the mail had dismounted at Hammersmith, about three miles from Hyde Park Corner, and called for beer, when some thieves took the opportunity to cut the mail-bags from off * The Bath post was no exception. The letters which left London at two o'clock on Monday morning did not reach Worcester, Norwich, or Birmingham till the Wednesday, Exeter not till Thursday, and Glasgow and Edinburgh for about a week. Palmer's Report. 77 the horse's crupper, and got away undiscovered. The French mail on its outward-bound passage vid, Dover was more than once stopped and rifled before it had got clear of London. A string stretched across a street in the borough through which the mail would pass has been known to throw the post-boy from his horse, who, without more ado, would coolly retrace his steps, empty-handed, to the chief office, and report the loss of his bags. What could be expected, however, in the case of raw, unarmed post-boys, when carriages were stopped in broad daylight in Hyde Park, and even in Piccadilly itself, and pistols pointed at the breasts of the nobility and gentry living close at hand 'I Horace Walpole relates that he himself was robbed in Hyde Park in broad daylight, in a carriage with Lord Eglinton and Lady Albemarle. Mr. Palmer, however, was ready with a remedy for robbery, as well as for the other countless defects in the existing postal arrangements. He began his work of reform in 1783, by submitting a full scheme in a lengthy report to Mr. Pitt, who was at that time Prime Minister. He commenced by describing the then existing system of mail transmission. " The post," he says, " at present, instead of being the quickest, is almost the slowest conveyance in the country ; and although, from the great improvements in our roads, other carriers have proportionately mended their speed, the post is as slow as ever." The system is also unsafe ; robberies are frequent, and he saw not how it could be otherwise if there were no changes. " The mails," con- tinued Palmer, " are generally intrusted to some idle boy without character, mounted on a worn-out hack, and who, so far from being able to defend himself, or escape from a robber, is more likely to be in league with him." If rob- beries were not so frequent as the circumstances might lead people to suppose, it was simply because thieves had found, by long practice, that the mails were scarcely worth robbing — the booty to be obtained being comparatively worthless, inasmuch as the public found other means of sending letters 78 Her Majesty's Mails. of value. Mr. Palmer, as we have before stated, knew of tradesmen who sent letters by stage-coach. Why, therefore, " should not the stage-coach, well protected by armed guards, under certain conditions to be specified, carry the mail-bags?" Though by no means the only recommendation which Mr. Palmer made to the Prime Minister, this substitution of a string of mail-coaches for the " worn-out hacks " was the leading feature of his plans. Evincing a thorough know- ledge of his subject (however he may have attained that knowledge), and devised with great skill, the measures he proposed promised to advance the postal communication to as high a pitch of excellence as was possible. To lend to the scheme the prospect of financial success, he laboured to show that his proposals, if adopted, would secure a larger revenue to the Post-Office than it had ever yet yielded ; whilst, as far as the public were concerned, it was evident that they would gladly pay higher for a service which was performed so much more efficiently. Mr. Pitt, who always lent a ready ear to proposals which would have the effect of increasing the revenue, saw and acknowledged the merits of the scheme very early. But, first of all, the Post-Office oflicials must be consulted ; and from accounts * which survive, we learn how bitterly they resented proposals not coming from themselves. They made many and vehement objections to the sweeping changes which Palmer's plans would necessitate. " The oldest and ablest officers in the service " represented them " not only to be impracticable, but dangerous to commerce and the reveniie."t The accounts of the way in which they met some of his pro- posals 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 * 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. + Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the Public Offices in 1788. The Post-Office objects to his Plans. 79 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 pro- minent officers of the Post-Office, indignantly answered that " it was not possible that any set of gentlemen, mer- chants, or outriders (commercial travellers, we suppose), could instruct officers brought up in the business of the Post-Office. And it is particularly to be hoped," said this gentlemen, with a spice of malice, " if not presumed, that the surveyors need no such information." He " ven- tured to say, that the post as then managed was admir- ably connected in all its parts, well-regulated, carefully attended to, and not to be improved by any person unac- quainted with the whole. It is a pity," he sarcastically added, "that Mr. Palmer should not first have been in- formed of the nature of the business in question, to make him understand how very differently the post and post- offices are conducted to what he apprehends." Mr. Palmer might not be, and really was not, acquainted with all the working arrangements of the office he was seeking to improve : yet it was quite patent to all outside the Post-Office that the entire establishment needed 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 there- from." 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 8o Her Majesty s Mails. 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 com- plains that the post is slow, and states that it ought to out- strip all other conveyances. Mr. Hodgson " could not see why the post should be the swiftest conveyance in England. Personal conveyances, I apprehend, should be much more, and particularly with people travelling on business." Then followed Mr. Draper, another official, who objected to the coaches as travelling too fast. " The post," he said, " cannot travel with the expedition of stage-coaches, on account of the business necessary to be done in each town through which it passes, and without which correspondence would be thrown into the utmost confusion." Mr. Palmer had proposed that the coaches should remain fifteen minutes in each town through which they passed, to give time to trans- act the necessary business-of sorting the letters. Mr. Draper said that half an hour was not enough, as was well enough known to persons at all conversant with Post-Office business. Living in this age of railways and steam, we have just reason to smile at such objections. Then, as to the appointment of mail-guards, Mr. Palmer might, but Mr. Hodgson could, see no security, though he could see endless trouble, expense, and annoyance in such a provision. " The man would doubtless have to be waited for at every alehouse the coach passed." He might have added that such had been the experience with the post-boys under the 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 arrangement. " There were no means of pre- venting robbery with effect,* as the strongest cart or coach * Post-OfEce robberies had been exceedingly numerous within a few- years of the change which Palmer succeeded in inaugurating. Though Mr. Palmer's Plans declared impossible. 8 1 that could be made, lined and bound with iron, might easily be broken into by determined robbers," and the employ- ment of armed mail-guards would only make matters worse. Instead of aflFording protection to the mails, the following precious doctrine was inculcated, that the crime of murder would be added to that of robbery; "for," said the wonder- ful Mr. Hodgson, " when once desperate fellows had deter- mined upon robbery, resistance would lead to murder"! These were peace and non-resistance principles with a vengeance, but principles which in England, during the later years of Pitt's administration, would seldom be heard, except in furtherance of some such selfish views as those which the Post-Office authorities held in opposition to Mr. Palmer's so-called innovations. Mr. Palmer's, propositions also included the timing of thf . mails at each successive stage, and their departure from the country properly regulated ; they would thus be enabled to arrive in London at regular specified times, and not at any hour of the day or night, and might, to some extent, be delivered simultaneously. Again : instead of leaving London at all hours of the night, he suggested that all the coaches for the different roads should leave the General Post-Office at the same time ; and thus it was that Palmer established what was, to the stranger in London for many years, one of the first of City sights. Finally, Mr. Palmer's plans were pronounced impossible. " It was an impossibility," his opponents declared, " that the Bath mail could be brought to London in sixteen or eighteen hours." Mr. Pitt was less conservative than the Post-Oflfice autho- rities. He clearly inherited, as an eloquent writer* 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 one prosecution for a single robbery cost the authorities no less a sum than 4,000/., yet they regarded the occurrences as unavoidable and simply matters of course. * Mr. M. D. Hill, m. Eraser' s Magazine, November, 1862. G 82 Her Majesty's Mails. practicable, and he resolved, in spite of the short-sighted opposition of the authorities, that it should be adopted. The Lords of the Treasury lost no more time in decreeing that the plan should be tried, and a trial and complete success was the result. On the 24th of July, 1784, the Post-Of35ce Secretary (Mr. Anthony Todd) issued the fol- lowing 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 re- ceiving-house before six of the evening, or seven at this chief office, will be forwarded by these new conveyances ; all others for the said post-towns and their districts put in afterwards, or given to the bellmen, must remain until the following post at the same hour of seven." The mail-coaches commenced running according to the above advertisement, not, however, on the 2d, but on the 8th of August. One coach left London at eight in the morning, reaching Bristol about eleven the same night. The distance between London and Bath was accomplished in fourteen hours. The other coach was started from Bristol at four in the afternoon on the same day, reaching London in sixteen hours. Mr. Palmer was installed at the Post-Office on the day of the change, under the title of Controller-General. It was arranged that his salary should be 1,500/. a-year, to- gether with a commission 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 Mr. Palmer comes to Grief. 83 to each charge ; but, notwithstanding this, the number of letters began at once, and most perceptibly, to increase. So great was the improvement in security and speed, that, for once, the additions to the charges were borne un- grudgingly. Coaches were applied for without loss of time by the municipalities of many of our largest towns,* and when they were granted — as they appear to have been in most of the instances — they were started at the rate of six miles an hour. This official rate of speed was subsequently increased to eight, then to nine, and at length to ten miles an hour.f The opposition to Mr. Palmer's scheme, manifested by the Post-Office officials before it was adopted, does not seem to have given way before the manifest success attend- ing its introduction. Perhaps Mr; Palmer's presence at the Council Board did not conduce to the desirable unanimity of feeling. However it was, he appears for some time to have contended single-handed with officials determinately opposed to him. When goaded and tormented by them, he fell into their snares, and attempted to carry his measures * The Liverpool merchants were the first to petition the Treasury for the new mail-coach. " This petition being complied with in the coiurse of a few months, the letters from London reached Liverpool in thirty hours. At first these coaches were small vehicles, drawn by two horses, which were changed every six miles. They carried four passengers, besides the coachman and guard, both dressed in livery, the latter being armed to the teeth, as a security against highwaymen." — Baines's History of Liverpool. In October, 1 784, York applied for a mail-coach, to pass through that place on its way to the North. + This velocity was not attained without considerable misgivings and distrust on the part of travellers. When the eight was increased to ten miles an hour, the public mind was found to be in different stages of alarm and revolt Vested interests indulged in the gloomiest forebodings on those who should thus knowingly spurn the way of Providence. Lord-Chancellor Campbell relates that he was frequently warned against travelling in the mail-coaches improved by Palmer, on account of the fearful rate at which they flew, and instances were supplied to him of passengers who had died suddenly of apoplexy from the rapidity of the motion. G 2 84 Her Majesty's Mails. by indirect means. In 1792, when his plans had been in operation about eight years, and were beginning to show every element of success, it was deemed desirable that he should surrender his appointment. A pension of 3,000/. was granted to him in consideration of his valuable services. Subsequently he memoriahzed the Government, setting forth that his pension fell far short of the emoluments which had been promised to him, but he did not meet with success. Mr. Palmer never ceased to protest against this treatment ; and his son, Major-General Palmer, frequently urged his claims before Parliament, until, in 18 13, after a struggle of twenty years, the House of Commons voted him a grant of 50,000/. Mr. Palmer died in 1818. Now that Mr. Palmer was gone from the Post-Office, his scheme was left to incompetent and unwilling hands. All the smothered opposition broke out afresh ; and if it had been less obvious how trade and commerce, and all the other interests promoted by safe and quick correspondence, were benefited by the new measures ; and if it had not been for the vigilant supervision of the Prime Minister — who had let the reformer go, but had no intention of letting his reforms go with him — all the improvements of the past few years might have been quietly strangled in their infancy. Though we know not what the country lost in losing the guiding-spirit, it is matter of congratulation that the main elements of his scheme were fully preserved. Though the Post-Office officials scrupled not to recommend some return to the old system, Mr. Palmer's plans were fully adhered to until the fact of their success became patent to both the public and the official alike. In the first year of their in- troduction, the net revenue of the Post-Office was about 250,000/. Thirty years afterwards the proceeds had in- creased sixfold, to no less a sum than a million and a half sterling ! Though, of course, this great increase is partly attributable to the increase of population, and the national advancement generally, it was primarily due to the greater speed, punctuality, and security which the new arrangements Results of Palmer's Reforms. 85 gave to the service. Whilst,' financially, the issue was suc- cessful, the result, in other respects, was no less certain. In 1797, the greater part of the mails were conveyed in one-half of the time previously occupied ; in some cases, in one-third of the time; and on the cross-roads, in a quarter of the time, taken under the old system. Mails not only travelled quicker, but Mr. Palmer augmented their number between the largest towns. Other spirited reforms went on most vigorously. Three hundred and eighty towns, which had had before but three deliveries of letters a-week, now received one daily. The Edinburgh coach required less time by sixty hours to travel from London, and there was a corresponding reduction between towns at shorter dis- tances. Ten years before the first Liverpool coach w§s started, a single letter-carrier sufficed for the wants of that place ; before the century closed, six were required. A single letter-carrier sufficed for Edinburgh for a number of years ;* no-vffoiir were required. No less certain was it that the mails, under the new system, travelled more securely. For many years after their introduction, not a single attempt was made, in England, to rob Palmer's mail-coaches. It is noteworthy, however, that the changes, when applied to Ireland, did not conduce to the greater security of the mails. The first coach was introduced into Ireland in 1790, and placed on the Cork and Belfast roads, a few more following on the other main lines of road. Though occasionally accom- panied by as many as four armed guards, the mail-coaches were robbed, according to a competent authority, " as fre- quently as the less-aspiring riding-post." Not many months after the establishment of mail-coaches, an Act was passed through Parliament, declaring that all * Sir Walter Scott relates that a friend of his remembered the London letter-bag arriving in Edinburgh, during the year 1 745, with but one letter for the British Linen Company. About the same time the Edinbui-gh mail is said to have arrived in London, containing but one letter, addressed to Sir William Pulteney, the banker. 86 Her Majesty's Mails. carriages and stage-coaches employed to carry his Majesty's mails should henceforth be exempt from the payment of toll, on both post- or cross-roads. Previously, all post- horses employed in the same service travelled free of toll. This Act told immediately in favour of the Post-Office to a greater extent than was imagined by its fraraers. Inn- keepers, who, in England, were the principal owners of stage-coaches,* bargained for the carriage of mails, very frequently at merely nominal prices. In return, they en- joyed the advantages of the coach and its passengers, travel- ling all roads free of toll. * 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 accominodation and formed plans for serving the country by a regular system of passenger- cars. He succeeded in inducing the different postmasters (who, up to the year 1830, had the conveyance of mails in their own hands, getting certain allowances for the service from Government, and then arranging for carriage in the cheapest way possible) to let him carry their mails. This he did at a cheap rate, stipulating, however, that he should not be required to run his cars at any inconvenient time for passenger traffic. On the amalgamation of the Enghsh and Irish Offices in 1830, Mr. Bianconi, who had now established a good reputation, entered into contracts with the general authorities to continue the work, though on a larger scale than ever, the extent of which may be judged by the fact that in 1848 he had 1,400 horses em- ployed. The growth and extent of railway communication necessajrily 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 ral. 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 stUl busy, and held several postal contracts; his estabUshment (i860) consisting of r,ooo horses, and between sixty and seventy conveyances, daily travelling 3,000 or 4,000 miles and traversing twenty-two counties. Road Improvement. 8 7 Arrived at the end of the century, we find the mail- coach system is now an institution in the country. Other interests had progressed at an equal rate. Travelling, as a rule, had become easy and pleasant. Not that the service was performed without any difficulty or hindrance. On the contrary — and it enters within the scope of our present object to advert to them — the obstacles to anything like a perfect system seemed insurmountable. Though the diffi- culties consequent on travelling, at the beginning of the present century, were comparatively trifling on the principal post-roads, yet, when new routes were chosen, or new locali- ties were designed to share in the common benefits of the new and better order of things in the Post-Office, these same difficulties had frequently to be again got over. Cross-roads in England were greatly neglected — so much so, in fact, that new mail-coaches which had been applied for and granted, were often enough waiting idle till the roads should be ready to receive them. The Highway Act of 1663, so far as the roads in remote districts were con- cerned, was completely in abeyance. Early in the century we find the subject frequently mentioned in Parliament. As the result of one discussion, it was decided that every in- ducement should be held out to the different trusts to make and repair the roads in their respective localities ; while, on the other hand, the Postmaster-General was directed by the Government to indict all townships who neglected the duty imposed upon them. Under the Acts of 7 & 8 George HI. c. 43, and 4 George IV. c. 74, commissioners were appointed to arrange for all necessary road improvements, having certain privileges vested in them for the purpose. Thus, they recommended that certain trusts should have loans granted to them, to be employed in road-making and mending. Mr. Telford, at his death, was largely employed by the Road Commissioners — the improvements on the Shrewsbury and Holyhead road being under his entire superintendence. And it would seem that the above-mentioned road needed im- provement. When, in 1808, a new mail-coach was put on 88 Her Majesty's Mails. to run between the two places, no fewer than twenty-two townships had to be indicted by the Post-Office authorities for having their roads in a dangerous and unfinished state. In Scotland and Ireland, great improvements had also been made in this respect, considering the previously wretched state of both countries, Scotland especially. At a somewhat earlier period, four miles of the best post-road in Scotland — namely, that between Edinburgh and Berwick — were de- scribed in a contemporary record as being in so ruinous a state, that passengers were afraid of their lives, " either by their coaches overturning, their horses stumbhng, their carts breaking, or their loads casting, and the poor people with burdens on their backs sorely grieved and discouraged ; '' moreover, "strangers do often exclaim thereat," as well they might. Things were different at the close of the last century ; still, the difficulties encountered in travelling, say by the Bar, may well serve to show the internal state of the country. " Those who are born to modern travelhng,'' says Lord Cockburn,* " can scarcely be made to understand how the previous age got on. There was no bridge over the Tay at Dunkeld, or over the Spey at Fochabers, or over the Findhorn at Forres. Nothing but wretched peer- less ferries, let to poor cotters, who rowed, or hauled, or pushed a crazy boat across, or more commonly got their wives to do it. . . . There was no mail-coach north of Aberdeen till after the battle of Waterloo. ... I under- stand from Hope, that after 1784, when he came to the bar, he and Braxfield rode a whole north circuit ; and that, from the Findhorn being in a flood, they were obliged to go up its bank for about twenty-eight miles, to the Bridge of Dulsie, before they could cross. I myself rode circuits when I was an Advocate Depute, between 1807 and 1810." A day and a half was still, at the end of the last century, taken up between Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 1788, a direct mail-coach was put on between London and Glasgow, to go by what is known as the west coast route, viA * Memorials of his Time, vol. i. p. 341. The Glasgow Coach. 89 Carlisle.* The Glasgow merchants had long wished for such a communication, as much time was lost in going by way of Edinburgh. On the day on which the first mail- coach was expected, a vast number of them went along the road for several miles to welcome it, and then headed the procession into the city. To announce its arrival on subsequent occasions, a gun was fired. It was found a difficult task, however, to drive the coach, especially in winter, over the bleak and rugged hills of Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire ; the road, moreover, was hurriedly and badly made, and at times quite impassable. Robert Owen, travelling between his model village in Lanarkshire and England, tells us t 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 * Dr. Cleland, in his Statistical Accoimt 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 Oflice 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 ^z/;? days to reach Glasgow by way of Edin- burgh, might, hke 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. ■^ Life of Robert Owen. Written by himself. London, 1857. 90 Her Majesty's Mails. 1824, a good road was finished and opened out as far south as Morpeth, in Northumberland. A 'continuation of the road from Morpeth to London being greatly needed, the Post-Office authorities engaged Mr. Telford, the eminent engineer, to make a survey of the road over the remaining distance. The survey lasted many years. A hundred miles of the new Great North Road, south of York, was laid out in a perfectly straight line.* All the requisite arrangements were made for beginning the work, when the talk of locomotive engines and tramways, and especially the result of the locomotive contest at Rainhill in the year 1829, had the effect of directing public and official attention to a new and promising method of travelhng, and of pre- venting an outlay of what must have been a most enormous sum for the purposes of this great work.f The scheme was in abeyance for a few months, and this time sufficed to develop the railway project, and demonstrate its usefulness to the postal system of the country. But we are anticipating matters, and must, at any rate, speak for a moment of the services of Mr. Macadam. The improvements which this gentleman brought about in road-making had a very sensible effect On the operations of the mail-coach service. Most of the post-roads were macadamized before the year 1820, and it was then that the service was in its highest state of efficiency. Accelerations in the speed of the coaches were made as soon as ever any road was finished on the new principle. From this time, the average speed, including stoppages, was nine miles, all but a furlong. The fastest coaches (known as the " crack coaches " from this circum- stance, and also for being on the best roads) were those travelling, in 1836, between London and Shrewsbury (accomphshing 154 miles in 15 hours), London and Exeter (171 miles in 17 hours), London and Manchester (187 miles in 19 hours), and London and Holyhead (261 miles in 27 hours). On one occasion, the Devonport mail, travelling with foreign and colonial letters, accomphshed the journey * Smiles' Lives of the Engineers. f Ibid. The Old Mail-Guard. 91 of 216 miles, including stoppages, in 21 hours and 14 minutes. In 1836, there were fifty four-horse mails in England, thirty in Ireland, and ten in Scotland. In England, besides, there were forty-nine mails of two horses each. In the last year of mail-coaches, the number which left London every night punctually at eight o'clock was twenty-seven ; travelling in the aggregate above 5,500 miles, before they reached their several destinations. We have already stated how the contracts for horsing the mail-coaches were con- ducted ; no material change took place in this respect up to the advent of railways. Early in the present century, it was deemed desirable that the mail-coaches should all be built and furnished on one plan. For a great number of years, the contract for building and repairing a sufficient number was given (without competition) to Mr. John Vidler. Though the Post-Ofiice arranged for building the coaches, the mail contractors were required to pay for them ; the revenue only bearing the charges of cleaning, oiling, and greasing them, an expense amounting to about 2,200/. a-year. In 1835, however, on a disagreement with Mr. Vidler, the contract was thrown open to competition, from which competition Mr. Vidler, for a substantial reason, was excluded. The official control of the coaches, mail- guards, &c., it may here be stated, was vested in the superintendent of mail-coaches, whose location was at the General Post-Office. Had Hogarth's pencil transmitted to posterity the tout ensemble of a London procession of mail-coaches, or of one of them at the door of the customary halting-place (what Herring has done for the old Brighton coach the " Age" with its fine stud of blood-horses, and a real baronet for driver), the subject could not but have occasioned marked curiosity and pleasure. No doubt he would have given a distinguished place to the guard of the mail. The mail- guard was no ordinary character, being generally d'accord with those who thought or expressed this opinion. Regarded as quite a public character, commissions of great importance 92 Her Majesty's Mails. were oftentimes intrusted to him. The country banker, for example, would trust him with untold wealth. Though he was paid only a nominal sum by the Post- Office autho- rities for his official services, he was yet enabled to make his position and place a lucrative one, by the help of the regular perquisites and other accidental windfalls which we need not further specify. Gathering en route scraps of local gossip and district intelligence, he was often " private," and sometimes " special," correspondent to scores of dif- ferent people. The Muddleton Gazette, perhaps the only newspaper on his line of road, was submissively dependent upon him. More of him anon : here we would only add that he had special duties on special occasions. The mail- coach was looked for most anxiously in times of great excitement. During the trial of Queen Caroline, says Miss Martineau, " all along the line of mails, crowds stood waiting in the burning sunshine for news of the trial, which was shouted out to them as the coach passed."* Again, at the different stages in the history of the Reform Bill, the mail-roads were sprinkled over for miles with people who were on the qui vive for any news from London, and the coachman and guards on the top of the coaches shouted out the tidings.t When the Ministry resigned, many of the guards distributed handbills which they had brought from London, stating the facts. In these days of cheap postage and newspapers in every household, it may be difficult to comprehend the intense interest centring in the appearance of the mail on its arrival at a small provincial town. The leather bag of the Post-Office was almost the undisputed and peculiar property of the upper ten thousand. When there was good reason to suppose that any communication was on its way to some member of the commonalty, speculation would be eager among the knot of persons met to talk over the probable event. Thus we may understand with what eagerness the mail would be looked for, and how the news, freely given * History of England during the Thirty Years' Peace, vol. i. p. 257. + Ibid. vol. ii. p. 62. Procession of Mail-Coaches. 93 out, especially in times of war, would be eagerly devoured by men of all ranks and parties. It only remains to notice, in conclusion, the annual procession of mail-coaches on the king's birthday, which contemporaries assure us was a gay and lively sight. One writer in the early part of the century goes so far as to say that the cavalcade of mail-coaches was " a far more agree- able and interesting sight to the eye and the mind than the gaud and glitter of the Lord Mayor's show," because the former " made you reflect on the advantages derived to trade and commerce and social intercourse by this mag- nificent establishment" (the Post-Office). Hone, in his Every-day Book, writing of 1822, tells us that George IV., who was bom on the 12 th of August, changed the annual celebration of his birthday to St. George's-day, April 23d. " According to custom," says he, " the mail-coaches went in procession from Millbank to Lombard Street. About twelve o'clock, the horses belonging to the different mails with entire new harness, and the 'postmen and postboys on horseback arrayed in their new scarlet coats and jackets, proceed from Lombard Street to Millbank and there dine ; from thence, the procession being re-arranged, begins to march about five o'clock in the afternoon, headed by the general post letter-carriers op horseback. The coaches follow them, filled with the wives and children, friends and relations, of the guards or coachmen ; while the postboys sounding their bugles and cracking their whips bring up the rear. From the commencement of the pro- cession, the bells of the different churches ring out merrily and continue their rejoicing peals till it arrives at the Post- Office again, from whence the mails depart for different parts of the kingdom." Great numbers assembled to wit- ness the cavalcade as it passed through the principal streets of the metropolis. The appearance of the coachmen and guards, got up to every advantage, and each with a large bouquet of flowers in his scarlet uniform, was of course greatly heightened by the brilliancy of the newly-painted coach, emblazoned with the royal arms. 94 Her Majesty's Mails. CHAPTER VI. THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE. It must not be supposed that the improvements in mail- conveyance were the only beneficial changes introduced into the Post-Office during the fifty years which we have designated as the mail-coach era. It is true that, compared with the progress of the country in many other respects, the period might be termed uneventful. Still, there are incidental changes to chronicle of some importance in themselves, and likewise important in their bearing on the present position of the Post-Office. If we retrace our steps to the year 1 7 92, we shall find, for instance, that in that year an entirely new branch of business was commenced at the General Post-Office. We refer to the origin of the Money- Order establishment. The beginnings of this system, which, as the reader must be aware, has of late years assumed gigantic proportions, were simple and unassuming in the extreme. The Government of the day had expressed a desire for the establishment of a medium by which soldiers and sailors might transmit to their homes such small sums as they could manage to save for that purpose. Three officers of the Post-Office jointly submitted a scheme to make a part of the Post-Office machinery available in this direction, and a monopoly was readily conceded to them. The undertaking was further favoured with the sanction of the Postmasters-General. The designation of the firm was to be " Stow & Co.," each of the three partners agreeing to find a thousand pounds capital. The stipulations made The Origin of the Money-order Office. 95 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 commission that was charged for the money-orders. Their terms were eightpence for every pound ; but if the sum exceeded two pounds, a stamp-duty of one shilling was levied by Government in addition. No order could be issued for more than five guineas ; and the charge for that sum amounted to four shillings and sixpence, or nearly five per cent. When it is considered that the expense did not end here, but that a letter containing a money-order was subjected to double postage, it cannot be wondered at that those who dealt with the three monopolists were few in number, and only persons under a positive necessity to remit money speedily. Such a system, it will be admitted, could not of itself be expected to foster trade. When the general public were admitted to the benefits of the Money- order Office — as they were some few years after the 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 contri- bute 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 establish- g6 Her Majesty's Mails. ment, worked by private capital, under his sanction ; but he could give no returns, because the accounts were not under his control. In 1838, a new Postmaster-General, Lord Lichfield, sought and obtained the consent of the Treasury to convert the Office into a branch under his immediate direction. In that year the chief Money-order Office com- menced business in two small rooms at the north end of St. Martin's-le-Grand, with a staff of three clerks. Though the charges were reduced to a commission of sixpence for sums under two pounds, and of one shilling and sixpence for sums up to five pounds, the new branch was worked at a loss, owing to the high rates of postage and the double payment to which letters containing enclosures were sub- jected. After the introduction of penny postage, the change was so marked, that the immense success of this branch establishment may be considered as entirely owing to the reduction of postage-rates. Had the penny-postage scheme done no more for the nation than assisted the people in the exercise of a timely prudence and frugality, stimulating them, as it can be proved, to self-denial and benevolence, it would have done much. But we are anticipating an im- portant era. Soon after the passing of the Penny-postage Act, the commission on money-orders was reduced to three- pence instead of sixpence, and sixpence for any amount above two pounds and under five pounds. In 1840, the number of money-order transactions had increased to thou- sands, in the place of hundreds under the old r'egime. The money passed through the office in the advent year of cheap postage amounted to nearly half a million sterling, the Post- Office commission on the sum exceeding 6,000/. The rate of increase, subsequently, may best be shown by taking a month's work ten years afterwards. Thus, during one month of 1850, twice as many orders were taken out and paid as were issued and paid during 1840, the particulars of which year were given above. The same rate of increase has continued up to the present moment. During the year 1862, the number of orders had, in round numbers, risen Origin of the Ship-Letter System. 97 to more than seven and a half millions, or a money-value exceeding sixteen millions sterling, the commission on the whole amounting to more than one hundred and thirty-six thousand pounds.* By the statute of Queen Anne, letters might be brought from abroad by private ships under certain distinctly-speci- fied regulations. On the contrary, no law existed enabling the Postmaster-General to send bags of letters by the same medium until 1799, when an Act was passed with this object. Masters of such ships refusing to take bags were subjected to heavy penalties. + The postage of letters so sent (on account of the slowness of transit in the majority of cases) was fixed at half the usual rates. This Act is the foundation of the ship-letter system, by means of which, besides the regular packet communication, letters are for- warded 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-Ofiice in the usual way. In the year 1814, the business of the Post-Office had * These items are exclusive of those relating to colonial money- orders. + The Government can grant a release to any ship fixed for this service. It will be remembered by many readers that after the Peterhoff was taken by Admiral Wilkes of the United States' navy, February, 1863, the proprietors of the vessel, who had other ships on the same line (with all of which the Post-Office sent ship-letters), asked the Government for the protection of a mail-officer. On the principle of choosing the least of two evils, and rather than take such a decisive step, which might lead to troubles with the United States' Government, Earl Russell relieved the Sea Queen from the obligation to carry the usual mail-bag to Matamoras. pS Her Majesty s Mails. increased so greatly, that an agitation was commenced with the object of securing better accommodation for its de- spatch than was afforded by the office in Lombard Street. The first General Post-Office was opened in Cloak Lane, near Dowgate Hill, and removed from thence to the Black Swan in Bishopsgate Street. After the Great Fire of 1666, a General Office was opened in Covent Garden, but it was soon removed to Lombard Street, to a house which had been the residence of Sir Robert Viner, once Lord Mayor of London. It was now proposed that a large and com- modious building should be specially erected in some central part of the City, and the business once more trans- ferred. In the Session of 18 14 we find a Mr. Butterworth presenting a petition to the House of Commons from four thousand London merchants, in favour of an early removal of the Post-Office from Lombard Street. He was assured, he said, that the present office " was so close and confined, as to be injurious to the health of those concerned ;'' he further stated, that " two guineas were expended weekly for vinegar to fumigate the rooms and prevent infectious fevers." Another hon. member stated that the access to the office was so narrow and difficult, that the mail-coaches were prevented from getting up to it to take the letter-bags. It is curious to note that even this change was contested. Counter-petitions were presented to Parliament, stating that the Lombard Street office was convenient enough, and that the movement was got up by interested parties. Many years passed before the discussions ended and the pre- liminary arrangements were made. Nothing could better serve to show the stationary character of the Post-Office than the fact that, year by year, and in the opinion of the authorities, the Lombard Street establishment sufficed for its wants and requirements. In 1825, however. Govern- ment acquiesced in the views of the great majority of London residents, and St. Martin's-le-Grand — ^the site of an ancient convent and sanctuary — was chosen for a large new building, to be erected from designs by Sir R. Smirke. The Duke of Richmond. 99 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 pubhc structures in London. The base- ment is of granite, but the edifice itself, which is 400 feet in length and 80 feet in width, is built of brick, faced all round with Portland stone. In the centre is a grand portico with fluted columns, leading to the great hall, which forms a public thoroughfare from St. Martin's-le-Grand to Foster Lane. From the date of the opening of the new General Post- Office, improvements were proposed and carried out very earnestly. Under the Duke of Richmond, reforms in the establishment set in with considerable vigour.* 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 improve- ments 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 Post-Office In- quiry, who had sat yearly on the Post-Office and other revenue branches of the public service. The previous policy, however, of the authorities was to put on a bold front against any recommendations not originating with themselves. The Duke of Richmond had considerably * The Duke of Richmond, though opposed to the Reform Bill, was a member of Lord. Grey's Cabinet. Indefatigable in the service of the department over which he was placed from 1830 to 1834, he refused at first to accept of any remuneration of the nature of salary. In compliance, it is stated, with the strong representation of the Treasury Lords, as to the objectionable nature of the principle of gratuitous services by public officers, ' ' which must involve in many cases the sacrifice of private fortune to official station," His Grace con- sented to draw his salary /h>»» that time only. H 2 loo Her Majesty s Mails. less of this feeling than some of his predecessors. Thus, to take the principal measure of reform concluded in his time — namely, the complete amalgamation of the Scotch and Irish Offices with the English Post-Office — we find that the twenty-third report of the Commissioners, signed by " Wallace," W. J. Lushington, Henry Berens, and J. P. Dickenson, spoke strongly on the inadequacy "of the present system of administration to reach the different parts of the country," and urging the expediency "of providing against any more conflict of opinion, and of securing a more extended co-operation, as well as unity of design, in the management of the distinct Offices of England, Scotland, and Ireland." Again, in 1831, on the recommendation of the Commission, the Postmaster- General ordered that the boundaries of the London dis- trict post — which, in 1801, became a "Twopenny Post," and letters for which post, if delivered beyond the bounda- ries of the cities of London and Westminster and the borough of Southwark, were charged threepence — should now be extended to include all places within three miles of the General Post-Office. Two years afterwards, on the recommendation of another Commission, the limits of the " Twopenny Post " were again extended to places not ex- ceeding 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.* * The salary of the Secretary to the Post-Office in the last century was 600/. a-year, and a commission of 24 per cent, on the produce of the mail-packets. — (Vide PitCs Speeches, vol. i. p. 53-5, Debate of June 17, 1783.) In 1830 the Secretary's salary was 300/. a-year, but what with compensations, fees, 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 Sir Rowland Hill anticipated. i o i In 1830, on the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the mails of the district were consigned to the new company for transmission. The railway system developed but slowly, exerting little influence on Post-Office arrange- ments 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 super- cession of the mail-coach. One writer suggested the employment of balloons. Professor Babbage threw out suggestions, in Yds Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, 1832, pp. 218 — 221, deserving more attention, because in them we see shadowed forth two at least of the greatest enterprises of our time. After proceeding to show, in a manner which must have been interesting to the post- reformers of 1839-40, that if the cost of letter-carrying could be reduced, the result might be (if the Post-Ofiice people chose) a cheaper rate of postage and a correspond- ing 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 consisted principally of emoluments derived from other sources. The established allowances, charged on the public revenue, consisted of sums for postage, stationery, payment in lieu of apartments, and for con- tinuing indexes to official books. The remaining emoluments, of course not chargeable against the revenue, arose iiomfeeson deputations, commissions, expresses, profits on the publication of the Shipping and Packet Lists, payments for franking letters on the business of the Land- Tax Redemption, and for the Tax- Office, &c. and from Lloyd's Coffee House for shipping intelligence, &c. There were, besides, other gratuities for special servictes. 103 Her Majesty's Mails. station-houses, where a man should be in attendance. A narrow cylindrical tin case, to contain bags or letters, might be suspended on two wheels rolling upon the wire, whilst an endless wire of smaller size might be made to pass over two drums, one at each end, by which means the cylinder could be moved by the person at the station. Much more of the details follow, and our author thus concludes: — " The difficulties are obvious ; but if these were overcome, it would present many advantages besides velocity." We might have two or three deliveries of letters* every day; we might send expresses at any moment ; and " it is not im- possible that a stretched wire might itself be made available for a species of telegraphic communication yet more rapid." After the first few years of railways, all other speculators quietly withdrew into the shade. In the Post-Office, towards 1838 and 1839, the influence of railways promised soon to be paramount, and it was now that Acts were passed in Parliament " to provide for the conveyance of mails by railways.'' In 1836, Sir Francis Freeling, the Secretary of*the Post- Office, died, when his place was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Maberly. The latter gentleman, who was an entire stranger to the department, was introduced into the Post-Office by the Treasury for the purpose, as it was stated, of zealously carrying out the reforms which another commission of inquiry had just recommended, t On the premature fall of Sir Robert Peel's first Cabinet, early in the previous year, the Earl of Lichfield had succeeded to the office of Post- master-General under Lord Melbourne. The two new * We give the following simply to show the vagaries of clever, scientific men. Speaking of London, the Professor said : — " Perhaps if the steeples of churches, properly selected, were made use of —as, for instance, St. Paul's — and if a similar apparatus were placed at the top of each steeple, and a man to work it during the day, it might be possible to diminish the expense of the twopenny post, and make de- liveries every half-hour over the greater part of the metropolis." P. 221. t Evidence of Colonel Maberly before the Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 170. * An Instalment of Reform is proposed. 103 officers set to work in earnest, and succeeded in inaugurating many important reforms. They got the Money-order Office transferred, as we have already seen, from private hands to the General Establishment ; they began the system of registering valuable letters ; and, taking advantage of one of Mr. Hill's suggestions, they started a number of day-mails to the provinces. Towards the close of 1836, the stamp duty on newspapers was reduced from about threepence- farthing net to one penny, a reduction which led to an enormous increase in the number of newspapers passing through the Post-Office. Though all these improvements were being carried out, and in many respects the Post-Office was showing signs of progression, the authorities still clung with a most un- reasonable 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 '.n any other department, the Government obstinateljf re- fused to listen for a moment to any plan for the reduction of postage rates, or, what is still more remarkable, even to the alleviation of burdens caused directly by the official arrangements of the period. For example, Colonel Maberly had no sooner learnt the business of his office, than he saw very clearly an anomaly which pressed heavily in some cases, and was felt in all. He at once made a proposition to the Treasury that letters should be charged in all cases according to the exact distance between the places where a letter was posted and where delivered, and not according to the distance through which the Post-Office, for purposes of its own, might choose to send such letters. It may serve to show the extent to which this strange and anomalous practice was carried, if we state that the estijnated reduction in the postal revenue, had Colonel Maberl/s suggestion been acted upon, was given at no less than 80,000/. annually ! The Lords of the Treasury promptly refused the concession. In 1837 the average general postage was estimated at J 04 Her Majesty's Mails. q\d. per letter ; exclusive of foreign letters, it was still as high as %.\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 ratip 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, abbut this time, of eleven hundred such letters, which were found in a single bag in the warehouse of certain eminent London carriers. The head of the firm hastened to seek an interview with the Postmaster-General, and proffered instant payment of 500/. by way of composi- tion 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.* For one case which was detected, however, * Mr. Matthew Devonport Hill. 1862. Mr. Wallace. 105 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-Offlce 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 de- sirability 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 * 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. " At the same time he moved for a return of all Post-Office prosecutions,^ especially for the expenses of a recent case * Mirror of Parliament. Barrow. 1833. + Now and then the House was enlivened and amused by even Post- Office discussions. Thus, in the discussion on tlie above motion, Mr. Cobbett complained that a letter of his, which "was not only meant to be read, but to be printed, " had never been received by him, nor could he get any satisfaction out of the Post-Office authorities. He advised all honourable members who had complaints to make against the Post-Office, to make them at once to the House, without having any interview with Ministers. For his own part, with regard to letters being opened, he felt sure that the Post-Office read all the letters it cared to read j so he took care to write accordingly. He didn't care io6 Her Majesifs Mails. at Stafford. In reply, the Post-Office answered in a parlia- mentary paper that no such instruction had ever been issued from the General Post-Office. Every person in the Post- Office was required to take the oath prescribed by the Act of 9 Queen Anne,c. lo. 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 fbr security.'' In reply to the other return, the Post-Office were forced to admit that the cost of prosecuting a woman and a female child at the suit of the Post-Office at the late Stafford Assizes exceeded three hundred and twenty pounds. There can be no question that Mr. Wallace's frequent motions * 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 about his letters being read, provided they were allowed to go on, as he addressed them. Mr. Secretary Stanley (the present Lord Derby) thought it would be a subject of deep regret that any negligence on the part of the Post- Office had prevented the elaborate lucubrations of the hon. member for Oldham from appearing in the Register on the appointed Saturday. Mr. Cobbett. It never appeared at all. Mr. Secretary Stanley was grieved. He felt sure, however, that the hon. member spends too much time over the midnight oil not to have kept a copy of his precious essay. He protested against hon. members taking up the time of the House with complaints against a department which managed its work very well. * Some of his motions must have been far from palatable to the powers that were, and we confess to thinking some of them wanting in charity and good taste. For example, September 7, 1835, we find him moving for a return, to supplement another which had been sent in imperfectly drawn up, which should show "what the special services are for which Sir Francis Freeling receives 700/. a-year, the number of rooms allotted to him at the General Post-OfiRce, and how often he resides there. Also the number allotted to the Under-Secretary ; whether the whole or part, and what parts are furnished at the public expense ; also the annual sum for coals and candles, for servants, &c. ; also the probable expense of expresses, messengers, and ranners, passing between the Post-Office and the Secretary at his private residence,"^ and a number of other items still more trifling. Moves Jor Returns. 107 and the coming reformer. Mr. Wallace seems to have been exceedingly honest and straightforward, though he was somewhat blunt and outspoken. He succeeded in gaining the attention of the mercantile community, though the Government honoured him with just as much con- sideration as he was entitled to from his position, and no more.* In estimating properly the penny-post system, and the labours of those who inaugurated the reform, the share Mr. Wallace had in it should by no means be lost sight of. * The Qitarterly Review, for October, 1839, speaking of his motions for different papers, says, " What grounds he had for making them could only be imagined. They were, in fact, the kind of random motions with whicli a •ax&\'a!a^x fishes for abuses, hut is still more anxious to catch notoriety." The italics are not oiirs, io8 Her Majesty's Mails. CHAPTER VII. SIR ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE. Miss Martineau, in her history of the Thirty Years' Peace, narrates a somewhat romantic incident to account for Mr. Hill's original relation to our subject, tracing the fiscal reform with which his name is indissolubly connected to the " neighbourly shining " well laid out of a "pedestrian traveller in the Lake District." Unluckily for the historian, the incident never happened to Mr. Hill. The repeated motions of Mr. Wallace in the House of Commons are proved beyond dispute to have brought home the subject to the consideration of many thoughtful minds, and amongst those, to one who had scholarly leisure and philosophical ingenuity to bring to its service. Bom in 1795, and for many years a tutor in his father's school near Birmingham, Mr. Rowland Hill was, at this time, the secretary of the Commissioners for conducting the Colonization of South Australia, upon the plan of Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield. At this post, according to the testimony of the commissioners themselves, Mr. Hill laboured unweariedly, " evincing," as they said, " consider- able powers of organization." Mr. Hill, in one place,* 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 * Select Committee of Postage, 1843, p. 133. Mr. Hill's Pamphlet. 109 Greenock, who kindly afforded me much assistance. I then applied to the Post-Office for information, with which Lord Lichfield was so good as to supply me. These were the means I took to make myself acquainted with the subject." In January, 1837, Mr. Hill published * the results of his investigations, and embodied his scheme in a pamphlet entitled Post-Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability. This, the first edition, was circulated privately amongst members of the legislature and official men ; the second edition, published two months afterwards, being the first given to the world. The pamphlet, of which we will here attempt a resume, immediately created a sensation ; especially so in the mercantile world. Mr. Hill may be said to have started with the facts to which we have already adverted, namely, that the Post-Office was not progressing like other great interests ; that its revenue, within the past twenty years, instead of increasing, had actually diminished, though the increase of population had been six millions, and the increase in trade and commerce had been proportionate. The increase in the ratio of stage-coach travellers was still 'more clear ; but this fact need not be pressed, especially as one smart quarterly reviewer answered, that, of course, the more men travelled, the less need of writing. From the data which Mr. Hill was enabled to gather — for accounts of any sort were not kept as accurately at the Post-Office then as now, and there were no accounts of the number of inland letters — he estimated the number of letters passing through the post. He then took the expenses of management and analysed the gross total amount. He proved pretty clearly, and as nearly as necessary, that the primary distribution, as he termed the * Miss Martineau, quoting from the Political Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 563, says that Mr. Hill first offered his scheme to the Government of Lord Melbourne before it was presented to the country. However this may be, Mr. Hill makes no mention of the fact in his frequent appearances before Committees of the House of Commons, &c. t Post-Office Reform, p. i, third edition. no Her Majesty's Mails. cost of receiving and delivering the letters, and also the cost of transit, took two-thirds of the total cost of the management of the Post-Office. Of this sum, the amount which had to do with the distance letters were conveyed, Mi;. 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 throughout the length and breadth of the country at precisely the same rate. The justice and propriety of a uniform rate was further shown, but in a smaller degree, by the fact that the relative cost of transmission of letters under the old system was not always dependent on the distance the mails were carried. Thus, the Edinburgh mail, the longest and most important of all, cost 5/ for each journey. Calculating the proportionate weight of bags, letters, and newspapers, Mr. Hill * arrived at the absolute cost of carrying a newspaper of an average weight of 14 oz. at one-sixth of a penny, and that of a letter of an average weight of ioz. 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 * Post-Office Reform, p. 14, third edition. Mr. Hilts principal Arguments. iii office. The expenses and trouble being much the same, perhaps even less at Edinburgh tlian at some inter- mediate 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 propo- sitions were opposed (and his opponents did not advocate the payment according to the actual cost of transit), that those who were adverse to them must fall into the absurdity of recognising as just an arrangement which charged the highest price for the cheapest business ! At first sight it looked extravagant, that persons residing at Penzance or near the Giant's Causeway, at Watford or Wick, should pay equal postage for their letters. The intrinsic value of the conveyance of a letter, it must be admitted, is a very different thing from its cost, the value being exactly equal to the time, trouble, and expense saved to the correspon- dents, of which, perhaps, the only measure appeared to be the actual distance. Looked at more narrowly, however, in the clear light of Mr. Hill's investigations, it became obvious that it was really " a nearer approximation to perfect justice " * to allow distant places to feel the benefits of the measure ; passing over the little inequalities to which it might give rise ; while all might pay such a sum as would cover the expenses in each and every case.t * Our Exemplars, Poor and Rich, edited by Matthew Davenport Hill. London, 1 851, p. 317. + The Westminste) Review, July, i860, p. 78, in an able but exceed- ingly ex farte 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 summuni bonum of letter- rates. " "A 112 Her Majesty s Mails. Mr. Hill succeeded likewise in proving many of the facts adverted to in the preceding chapter. He showed that the high rates were so excessive (not only varied according to distance, but doubled if there was an enclosure, with four- fold postage if the letter exceeded an ounce in weight) as greatly to diminish, where they did not absolutely prevent, correspondence. Not only so, but the high rate created an illicit traffic, involving all classes of the country in the meshes of a systematically clandestine trade. These facts and their results on the public revenue shine out of the pamphlet as clear as noonday. But this was not all. The expenses of the department, or the secondary distribution, might be much reduced by simplifications in the various processes. The existing system resulted in a complicated system of accounts, in- volving great waste of time as well as offering inducements to fraud. The daily work of exposing letters to a strong light, in order to ascertain their contents, also oifered a constant temptation to the violation of the first duty of the officers of the State, in respect to the sanctity of corre- chaige of one penny for the carriage of all letters of a certain weight within the United Kingdom, irrespective of distance, is eminently arbi- trary." ..." No one in London who has written two letters, one to a friend residing in the same town as himself, and another to one in Edinburgh, can have failed, in affixing the stamps to them, to observe the unfairness of charging the same sum for carrying the one 400 yards and the other 400 miles, when the cost of transmission must in the one case be so much more than in the other." These quotations plainly show that Mr. Hill's early arguments have been lost upon the reviewer. If Mr. Hill demonstrated one thing more plainly than another, it was that the absolute cost of the transmission of each letter was so infinitesi- mally small, that if charged according to that cost, the postage could not be collected. Besides, it is not certain that the one letter would cost the Post-Office more than the other. Moreover, to the sender the value of the conveyance of the local letter was equal to its cost, or he would have forwarded it by other means. No doubt a strong argument might be based on these grounds, as to the justice of a lower rate for letters posted and delivered in the same town. Such a measure might be supported on Mr. Hill's principles ; but the apparent anomaly is rusely no argument against a State monopoly of letter-carrying. Prepayment of Letters. 113 spondence. If, instead of charging letters according to the number of sheets or scraps of paper, a weight should be fixed, below which, whatever the contents of a letter, a certain rate be charged, much trouble would be saved to the office, not to speak of any higher reason. Again, he suggested that if anything could be done to expedite the delivery of letters by doing away with the collection of postage from door to door, a great object would be gained ; that five or six times the number of letters might be delivered with the existing machinery, and this even in less time than under the old system. The only requisite was, that some plan for the prepayment of letters should be devised, so that the Post-Office might be relieved from the duty of charging, debiting, &c. and the letter-carriers from collect- ing the postage. The Post-Office authorities had had the question of prepayment, by means of some kind of stamp or stamped covers, under consideration prior to this time. The Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry deliberated on the measure in the early part of 1837 (after Mr. Charles Knight had suggested a penny stamp, or stamped cover, for collecting the now reduced postage on newspapers), consider- ing it very favourably. Hence it arose that that part of the proposals relating to prepayment by stamped labels or covers, formed part of Mr. Hill's scheme, and was considered with it. Mr. Hill, in his able pamphlet, exhausted the subject. By a variety of arguments, he urged upon the nation a trial of his plans — begged for an unobstructed and cheap circu- lation of letters, expressing his most deliberate conviction,* that the Post-Office, " rendered feeble and inefficient by erroneous financial arrangements," was "capable of per- forming a distinguished part in the great work of national education," and of becoming a benefaction and blessing to mankind. He left the following proposals to the judg- ment of the nation : — (i) 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 * Post-Office Reform, p. 8. I J 14 Her Majesty's Mails. delivery of letters. (3) More frequent opportunities for the despatch of letters. And (4) Simplification in the operations of the Post-Office, with the object of economy in the management. The fundamental feature in the new scheme was, of course, the proposal that the rate of postage should be uniform, and charged according to weight. No wonder that the scheme, of which, in our own order, we have just attempted an outline, roused feelings of delight and approbation from the people at large, throughout the length and breadth of the land. Still less is it a matter of surprise that the Government and the Post-Office autho- rities, in charge of the revenue, should stand aghast at the prospect of being called upon to sanction what they con- sidered so suicidal a policy. Lord Lichfield, the Postmaster- General at the time, speaking for the Post-Office authori- ties, as to its practicability, described the proposal in the House of Lords,* " of all the wild and visionary schemes which I have ever heard of, it is the most extravagant." On a subsequent occasion, his opinion having been subjected for six months to the mellowing influence of time, he is less confident, but says that, if the plan succeeds (in the anticipated increase of letters), " the walls of the Post-Office would burst — the whole area on which the building stands would not be large enough to receive the clerks and the letters." t On the one side, many well-known names } were ranked in opposition, who believed that the scheme, among other drawbacks, would not only absorb the existing revenue, but would have to be supported by a ruinous subsidy from the Exchequer. On the other side of the question, however, there were many intelligent writers and great statesmen ready to advocate the sacrifice of revenue altogether, if necessary, rather than not have the reform; while an immense number believed (and Mr. Hill himself shared in this belief) that the diminution would only be temporary, * Mirror of Parliament, 15th June, 1837. t Ibid. l8th December, 1837. f Rev. Sydn Smith, Mr. McCullagh. The Result of Previous Reductions. 115 and should be regarded as an outlay which, in the course of years, would yield enormous profits. " Suppose even an average yearly loss of a million for ten years," says a celebrated economist of the p«riod ; " it is but half what the country has paid for the abolition of slavery, without the possibility of any money return. Treat the deficit as an outlay of capital. Even if the hope of ultimate profit should altogether fail, let us recur to some other tax . . . any tax but this, certain that none can operate so fatally on all the other sources of revenue. Letters are the primordia rerum of the commercial world. To tax them at all is condemned by those who are best acquainted with the operations of finance." Nor was Mr. Hill to be cried down. He admitted, as we have said, that his plans, if carried out, would result in a diminution of revenue for a few years to come. On the reliable data which he had collected, he calculated that, for the first year, this decrease might extend to as much as 300,000/. ; but that the scheme would pay in the long run, and pay handsomely, he had no manner of doubt whatever. His case was strengthened by all previous experience. The number of letters would increase in the ratio of reduction of postage. In 1827, the Irish postage-rate^ were reduced, and an immediate increase of revenue to a large extent was the result. The rate for ship-letters was reduced in 1834. In four years the number increased in Liverpool from fifteen to sixty thousand ; in Hull from fifteen to fifty thousand. The postage of letters between Edinburgh and the adjacent towns and villages was reduced in 1837 from twopence to a penny. In rather more than a year the number of letters had more than doubled. Mr. Hill's proposals were instantly hailed with intense satisfaction, especially by the mercantile and manufactur- ing classes of the community. Whatever might be said in Parliament, public opinion in the country was decided on the question, that if the success of the new scheme was sufficient to cover the charges of the Post-Office establish- ii6 Het Majesty's Mails. nient, it ought by all means to be carried out. Scarcely ever was public sympathy so soon and so universally ex- cited in any matter. The progress of the question of post- reform was in this, and sonte other respects, very remarkable, and shows in a strong light how long a kind of extortion may be borne quietly, and then what may be accomplished by prompt and conjoint action. Before Mr. Hill's pamphlet appeared no complaints reached the Legislature of the high rates of postage. During the year in which it did appear five petitions reached the House of Commons, praying that its author's scheme might at least be considered. In the next year 320, and in the first half of the year 1839 no fewer than 830, petitions were presented in favour of the measure. Within a few, the same number were sent up to the House of Lords. During the agitation, it is calculated that no less than 5,000 petitions reached St. Stephen's, in- cluding 400 from town-councils and other public bodies — the Common Council of London, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, among the number. During the month of February, 1838, Mr. Wallace moved for a Select Committee of the Commons to investigate and report upon Mr. Hill's proposals ; but the Government re- sisted the motion.* They intimated that the matter was under their consideration, and they intended to deal with it themselves. But the community were dissatisfied. They continued to petition till Ministers were compelled to show a greater interest in the subject, which they did "by pro- posing little schemes, and alterations, and devices of their own, which only proved that they w^re courageous in one direction, if not in another." t Meanwhile, the " Merchan- dise Committee " — formed of a number of the most in- fluential and extensive merchants and bankers in London, with Mr. Bates, of the house of Baring & Co. for chairman — was called into existence through the manifested oppo- sition to reasonable reform. Large sums were subscribed * Hansard, 'xxxviii. p. 1099. + Miss Martineau, vol. ii. p. 429. The Committee of 1838. 117 by this committee for the purpose of distributing informa- tion on the subject by means of pamphlets and papers, and for the general purposes of the agitation. So great and irresistible, in fact, was the pressure applied in this and other ways, that the Government found it impossible any longer to refuse an inquiry. A month or two after Mr. Wallace's motion, Mr. Baring, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed a Committee " to inquire into the present rates or modes of charging postage, with a view to such reduction thereof as may be made without injury to the revenue ; and for this purpose, to examine especially into the mode recommended, of charging and collecting postage, in a pamphlet by Mr. Rowland Hill." It was noticed that most of the members nominated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were favourable to the Government, all but two — Lord Lowther and Sir Thomas Fremantle — having voted for the Ballot. The Conservatives did not grumble, however, as on this subject the Govern- ment was conservative enough. The Committee sat sixty- three days, concluding their deliberations in August, 1838. They examined all the principal officers of the Post-Office and the Stamp Department, and eighty-three independent witnesses of different pursuits and various grades. The Post-Office authorities were specially invited to send any witnesses they might choose ; and as the Postmaster-General and the Secretary of the Post-Office objected to the penny rate as likely to be ruinous to the revenue, and to the principle of uniformity as unfair and impossible, we may be certain that the witnesses sent were judiciously chosen. The examination was by no means ex parte, but seems to have been carried on with the greatest fairness. Those members of the Committee who were particularly pledged to the protection of the revenue, as well as Lord Lowther — who had a thorough knowledge of the subject from having sat on a previous Commission — appear to have missed no opportunity of sifting the opinions and the statements of each witness. The members of the Com- 1 1 8 Her Majesty's Mails. mittee did their work, altogether, with zeal, great discrimi- nation, and ability. The plan and the favourable witnesses stood the scrutiny with wonderful success ; and Mr. Hill himself bore up, under what George Stephenson regarded as the greatest crucial test to which mortal man can be subjected, with tact and firmness, fully proving, in evidence, the soundness of the conclusions on which judgment had to be passed. ' We may say here, as we have not before referred to the circumstance, that it was necessary to make it clear to the Committee, the amount of increase in correspondence necessary to the success of the scheme. In opposition to the views of official men,* Mr. Hill held that a fivefold increase in the number of letters would suffice to preserve the existing revenue, and he hazarded a prediction that that increase would soon be reached. As regarded the means of conveyance, he showed that the stage-coaches, &c. already in existence could carry twenty-seven times the number of letters they had ever yet done ; and this state- ment passed without dispute. The evidence was clear and convincing as to the vast amount of contraband letters daily conveyed; and no less certainly was it shown that, if Mr. Hill's schemes were carried out, the temptation to evasion of postage would be at once abolished, inasmuch as there would then be no sufficient inducement to resort to illegal mediums. A Glasgow merchant stated before the Committee, that he knew five manufacturers in that city whose correspondence was transmitted illegally in the fol- lowing proportions, viz. — (i) 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 * Lord Lichfield said it would require a twelvefold increase, ' ' and I maintain," said he, "that our calculations are more likely to be right than his." — (Report, 2821.) Letter Smuggling. 119 of the extent to which the ilHcit conveyance of letters was carried. A carrier in Scotland was examined, and con- fessed 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 Com- mittee that the smuggling was alone done to save the postage. " There might be cases when it was more con- venient, 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 oppor- tunity for getting their letters conveyed cheaply or free." In his opinion, the practice could not be put a stop to until the Post-Office authorities followed the example that was set them in putting down illicit distillation in Scotland. " I would reduce the duty, and that would put an end to it, by bringing it down to the expense of conveyance by carriers and others." Mr. John Reid — an extensive bookseller and publisher in Glasgow — sent and received, illicitly, about fifty letters or circulars daily. " I was not caught," he said, " till I had sent twenty thousand letters, &c. otherwise than through the post." He constantly sent his letters by carriers ; he also sent and received letters for himself and friends, inclosed in his booksellers' parcels. Any customer might have his letters so sent, by simply asking the favour. It also came out in evidence, that twelve walking-carriers were engaged exclusively in conveying letters between Bir- mingham and Walsall and the district, a penny being charged for each letter. The most curious modes of procedure, and the oddest expedients* for escaping postage, were exhibited * 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 news- paper, 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 1 20 Her Majesty's Mails. during the sitting of the Committee. One, largely patronized by mercantile houses, consisted in having a number of cir- culars 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, com- menting on the matter of illicit letter-conveyance just previous to the sittings of the Committee, went the length of saying, that, "fortunately for trade and commerce, the operation of tlje Government monopoly is counteracted by the clandestine conveyance of letters." ..." The means of evasion are so obvious and frequent, and the power of prevention so ineffectual, that the post has become only the extraordinary, instead of the usual, channel for the conveyance of letters." Notwithstanding this testimony, the evidence of the Post-Office officials on this and the other heads of inquiry betrayed fully the usual degree of official jealousy of interference, and quite an average amount of official partiality. Thus, Colonel Maberly 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 com- mencement of the present chapter. The story is told originally, in Mr. Hill's pamphlet also : — Once, on the poet's visits to the Lake district, he halted at the door of a wayside inn at the moment when the rural postman was delivering a letter to the barmaid of the place. Upon receiving it she turned it over and over in her hand and then asked the postage of it. The postman demanded a shilling. Sighing deeply, however, the girl handed the letter- back, saying she was too poor to pay the required sum. The poet at once offered to pay the postage, and in spite of some resistance on the part of the girl, which he deemed quite natural, did so. The messenger had scarcely left the place, when the young barmaid confessed that she had learnt all she was likely to learn from the letter ; that she had only been practising a pre-conceived tiick : 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." Official Prognostications, 121 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 con- veyed 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 pa)rment of exorbitant rates, they must lie in the hands of the authorities. It is only necessary to compare the in- come 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 122 Her Majesty's Mails. with instances in which the Post-Office 'charges seriously interfered with the wants and reasonable enjoyments of the poor. On the general question involved, nearly all the witnesses, of whatever rank or grade, evidenced that the public, to an enormous extent, were deterred from writing letters and sending communications, which otherwise, under a cheaper tariff, they would write and send. That this part of the case was proved may be concluded from the language of the Committee themselves : — " The multitude of trans- actions 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 pay- ment of these heavy charges, and that all classes, for the self-same reason, corresponded free of postage when pos- sible ; that the rate of postage exceeded the cost of the business in a manifold proportion; and that, altogether, the existing state of things acted most prejudicially to commerce and to the social habits and moral condition of the people. They conclude, therefore, — I. That the only remedy is a reduction of the rates, Finding of the Committee. 123 the more frequent despatch of letters, and additional deliveries. 2. That the extension of railways makes these changes urgently necessary. 3. That a moderate reduction in the rates would occasion, loss, without diminishing the peculiar evils of the present state of things, or giving rise to much increased correspon- dence, and, 4. That the principle of a low, uniform rate, is just int 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 tem- porary depression, result in any ultimate loss to the revenue. As, however, the terms of their appointment precluded them from recommending any plan which involved an immediate loss, they restricted themselves to suggesting an uniform twopenny rate. The Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry, — consisting of Lord Seymour, Lord Duncannon, and Mr. Labouchere, — who were charged with an " inquiry into the manage- ment 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 " depart- ment ; that being the only branch then under consideration. " We propose,'' say they, and the words are significant, " that the distinction in the rates and districts, which now applies to letters delivered in the twopenny and threepenny post, shall not in any way affect correspondence transmitted under stamped covers ; and that any letter not exceeding half an ounce shall be conveyed free within the metropolis, and the district to which the town and country deliveries extend, if inclosed in an envelope bearing a penny stamp." With these important recommendations in its favour, the 124 Her Majesty s Mails. scheme was submitted to Parliament. It' had met with so much approval, and the subject seemed so important, that the Government took charge of the measure. The Chan- cellor of the Exchequer had the project of a uniform rate of postage embodied in a Bill, which passed in the session of 1839. This Act, which was affirmed by a majority of 102 members, conferred temporarily the necessary powers on the Lords of the Treasury. Many of the Conservative party opposed the Government proposals. Sir Robert Peel's chief argument against the change was, that it would necessitate a resort to a direct tax on income. In order, how- ever, to strengthen the hands of the Government, now that the question was narrowed in all minds to the single one of revenue, the majority in the House of Commons pledged themselves to vote for some substituted tax, if, upon experi- ment, any substitute should be needed. — {Hansard, vol. xlix.) No one out of Parliament, at any rate, who read Mr. Hill's pamphlet attentively, but was convinced of the practicability of the measure, and the careful perusal of the evidence collected by the Committee appointed, deter- mined any waverer as to the necessity of its being adopted. Still there existed serious misgivings in the country as to the steps which the Melbourne administration must soon announce. That there were some few objections to Mr. Hill's plan, and some difficulties about it, cannot be doubted ; the nation at large had decided for it, however, and some of the principal men in the country, not favour- able to the existing ministry, decided for it also. The Duke of Wellington was " disposed to admit that that which was called Mr. R. Hill's plan, was, if it was adopted as it was proposed, of all the plans, that which was most likely to be successful." * The Duke of Richmond pressed upon the ministers, that if they gave their sanction to any uniform plan, it should be to Mr. Hill's, " for that alone, and not the twopenny postage, seems to me to give hope of ultimate, success." t * Select Committee on Postage, 1843. t Hiid. The Govenimetit Hesitates . 125 On the 1 2th "of November, 1839, the Lords of the Treasury issued a minute, under the authority of the Act before referred to, reducing the postage of all inland letters to the uniform rate oi fourpence. The country, generally, was greatly dissatisfied. Mr. Hill's measure was what was required, and the fourpenny rate was in no respect his plan, nor did it even touch the question of "Cas. practicability of the uniform postage proposed by the reformer. This quarter measure of the Government did not even suffice to exhibit the benefits of a low rate of postage ; was consequently a most improper test, and Hkely to be prejudicial to the interest of the penny post. The increase of letters was in no place more than fifty per cent., whilst the decrease in the Post-Office revenue was at the rate of forty. per cent. In London, for instance, the diminution of receipts was at the lowest computation, 450/. a day, and the number of letters were only just doubled. The plan did not abolish the franking system. It did not abolish smuggling, inasmuch as a letter might be sent illicitly for a penny. How, therefore, it was argued, can it be expected that in the interior of the country, at any rate, and without Custom House officers, or any other respon- sible officers, a duty of 300 per cent, can be levied on the carriage of an article so easily transported as a letter % For a few weeks all was dissatisfaction. More than that, business men trembled for the success of the whole scheme, and lest the Government should return to the old regime. The Treasury Lords were convinced, however, that they had made a mistake, and they resolved to give the measure a full and fair trial. On the loth of January, 1840, another minute was issued, ordering the adoption of a uniform penny rate. By adopting Mr. Hill's plan, the Government simply placed itself in the position of a trader, who declared that he intended for a time to be satisfied with a part of his former profits ; but hoped eventually to secure himself against loss by increased business, greater attractiveness, and diminished cost of management. In six months, the 126 Her Majesty s Mails. policy of the Government was acknowledged on all hands to be the correct one, for on the loth of August the Treasury had its minute confirmed by the Statute 3 & 4 Vict. chap. 96. The Quarterly Review* as an exception to the general feeling, stigmatizes the measure " as one of the most inconsiderate jumps in the dark ever made by that very inconsiderate assembly." It is " distinguished by weak- ness and rashness," &c. But the judgment of posterity is sadly against the reviewer. A Treasury appointment was given to Mr. Hill to enable him to work out his plans, or, in the wording of the said appointment, " to assist in carrying into effect the penny postage." He only held his office about two years, for when the Conservative party came into power in 1841, he was politely bowed out of it on the plea that his work was finished ; that his nursling had found its legs, and might now be taken into the peculiar care of the Post-Office authorities themselves. A study of the past history of the Post-Office might have enlightened the minds of the members of the Executive Government as to the advisability or otherwise, of leaving entirely the progress of Post-Office improvement in the hands of the authorities. Mr. Hill intreated the new premier, Sir Robert Peel, to let him remain at any pecuniary sacrifice to himself, but his entreaties were unavailing. He must watch his scheme from a distance, f * October, 1859, Art. 9. See also Raikes' Diary, vol. iii. t " 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 Mr. HilVs Popularity in the Country. 127 Speaking of the hindrances which Mr. Hill met with in official circles, we are reminded of a pamphlet which appeared shortly after this period, evidently from some Post-Office official, " On the Administration of the Post- Office." This precious pamphlet has been long consigned to well-merited oblivion, and we only rescue it for a moment from the limbo of all worthless things, to show the spirit which then actuated some of those in office. It reminds us forcibly of the criticism which Mr. Palmer's scheme called forth from the leading spirits of the Post-Office of his day. The pamphlet, illogical and abusive throughout, laid it down as a principle that "the Post-Office is not under any obligation to convey the correspondence of the public.'' Again, that "the Post-Office is a Government monopoly for the benefit of the public revenue, and exists for the sole purpose of profit." Then there are praises for the old, and abuses for the new regime. " The celerity, the certainty, the security with which so vast a machine executed such an infinite complexity of details, were truly admirable!" Mr. Hill comes in for a good share of detraction. He is counselled to leave his " pet scheme " to the " practical men" of the Post-Office. In the following flowery language he is recommended " to behold it (his project) as a spectator from the shore, viewing his little bark in safety, navigated by those who are practically best acquainted with the chart, wind, and waves." Mr. Hill's popularity outside the Post-Office contrasted favourably with the estimation in which he was held inside. The whole community had become impressed with the value of his measures and the important services he had rendered. Spurred on to exertions by the treatment he had interwoven with all the details of Government and necessary to the daily habits and events of this great Empire ! " The matter is not one of "detail," but of "principle;" if their Lordships vifant this or that carried into execution, they have only to say so, and Lord Lowther will see that it is done, " though it may be in opposition to my own opinion. " 128 Her Majesty's Mails. received at the hailds of an administration, which, to use the fine expression of Lord Halifax in reference to another public benefactor, "refused to supply the oil for a lamp which gave so much light," a public subscription was opened throughout the country, which, joined in by all classes, was quickly represented by a handsome sum. The money, which amounted to over thirteen thousand pounds, and which was only considered an expression of national gratitude, and by no means a full requital for his services, was presented to him at a public banquet got up in London under the auspices of the " Merchandise Committee." In an address which accompanied the testimonial, Mr. Hill's measure of reform was pronounced one " which had opened the blessings of a free correspondence to the teacher of re- ligion, 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 com- plete efficiency to his reform. Mr. Hill gave ample credit to those who had sustained him in his efforts to carry his plans through Parliament, and especially named Messrs. Wallace and Warburton, members of the special Committee of 1838, Mr. Baring the Ex-chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lords Ashburton and Brougham. We shall have frequent occasion as we advance, to men- tion Mr. Hill's name in connexion with Post-Office history during the past twenty years ; but we may here notice the remaining particulars of Mr. Hill's personal history. On the restoration of the Whigs to power in 1846, Mr. Hill was brought back into office, or rather first placed in office Sir Rowland Hill. 129 at St. Martin's-le-Grand, as secretary to the Postmaster- General, the present Marquis of Clanricarde. In 1854, on Colonel Maberly's removal to the Audit Office, Mr. Hill attained the deserved honour of Secretary to the Post- Office under the late Lord Canning — the highest fixed appointment in the department, and second only in respon- sibility .to that of Postmaster-General. In i860 Mr. Hill was further honoured with the approval of his sovereign, and few will question it, when we say it was a worthy exercise of the royal prerogative, when he was called to receive the dignity of Knight Commander of the Bath. The arduous exertions, extending over a quarter of a century, and the ever-increasing duties of the Secretary of the Post-Office have, within the last few years, begun to tell upon the physical system of Sir Rowland Hill, and have more than once caused him to absent himself from the post which he has made so honourable and responsible. During the autumn of last year he obtained leave of absence from active duty for six months — his place being 'filled by Mr. Tilley, the senior assistant secretary of the Post-Office — a step which was generally understood to be preparatory to his resignation, should no improvement be manifest in his health. Now (March, 1864) his retirement is announced, and he leaves us and passes " not into obscurity, but into deserved repose.'' May he be long spared to enjoy the rest and quiet which he has so well earned, and the grati- tude and sympathy which must be universally felt for him. His early work, that would have been Herculean, even if he had not been assailed by foes without and foes within, must have caused him immense labour of hand and labour of brain ; the carrying out also of many important subse- quent measures, which may be said to have followed as necessary corollaries of his great reform, must have occa- sioned him an amount of bodily and mental toil and excite- ment 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 in- K 130 Her Majesty's Mails. dividual, has succeeded in drawing close the domestic ties of the nation, and extending in innumerable ways the best interests of social life. He deserves well of his country, and we are only giving expression to a feeling which is uppermost at this moment in most men's minds, when we 'add the hope that a debt of gratitude may soon be dis- charged by some gracious national tribute.* The Executive Government, on its part, has shown a just and highly appreciative estimate of Sir Rowland Hill's remarkable services in the provision which has been made for him on his retirement. By a Treasury minute, dated March nth, 1864, advantage is taken of the special clause in the Superannuation Act, relating to extraordinary services, to grant him a pension of three times the usual retiring allowance. The language in which this resolution is couched — doubtless from the pen of Mr. Gladstone — is unusually complimentary for this class of official documents. After recounting Sir Rowland Hill's eminent services — the facts of which are -based upon a statement just presented by the veteran reformer himself, (see Appendix H) — and stating the amount of his pension if treated on the ordinary super- annuation allowance, the Lords of the Treasury say that they consider the present a fitting case for special arrange- ment. " Under the circumstances, it may justly be averred that my Lords are dealing on the present occasion with the case not merely of a meritorious public servant, but of a benefactor of his race ; and that his fitting reward is to be found not in this or that amount of pension, but in the grateful recollection of his country. But my Lords dis- charge the portion of duty which belongs to them with cordial satisfaction, in awarding to Sir Rowland Hill for life his full salary of 2,000/. per annum." Lord Palmerston has * We find that Birmingham, at which town Sir Rowland Hill spent some of the earlier years of his life, has been the first to move in the matter. At a meeting held March 3, a statue was voted to cost 2,000/. to be placed in the new public hall. A petition to the House of Commons was likewise adopted A Grant to Sir Rowland Hill. 131 further given notice that he will move in the House of Commons, that the pension be continued to Lady Hill, in the event of her surviving her husband.* One thing only mars the gracefulness of the minute in question. A vague and indefinite attempt is made towards partitioning the merit of the original suggestion of the penny postage scheme between Sir R. Hill and some other nameless projector or projectors. On the contrary, we have not been more definitely led to any conclusion in the range of postal subjects which have claimed our attention, than to the one which gives to Sir Rowland Hill the entire merit of the suggestion, and the chief merit in the carrying out, of penny-post reform. It would, of course, have been impossible to carry out and perfect the system without the cordial assistance and co-operation of the other principal officers of the Post-Office ; for the past twenty years that assistance seems to have been faithfully rendered ; and Sir Rowland Hill, in retiring, pays a just tribute to those who have laboured to promote the new measures, and into whose able hands they have now fallen. * This motion has twice been deferred, owing, it is said, to repre- sentations made by members of both sides of the House of Commons. A few days ago, an influential deputation from the House met the First Lord of the Treasury at his official residence, the members of which strongly urged, that in place of the deferred pension to Lady Hill, a Parliamentary Grant, sufficient though reasonable, be made to Sir Rowland Hill at once. It is considered certain that, when the House resumes after Easter, Lord Palmerston will propose a grant. most probably, of 30, 000/. 132 H&r Majesty's Mails. CHAPTER VIII. EARLY RESULTS OF THE PENNY-POSTAGE SCHEME. There are, of course, two aspects in which to contemplate the measure of penny-post reform. The first relates to its social, moral, and commercial results ; the second views it in its financial relationship. When the system had been in operation two years, it was found that the success of the scheme in its first aspect had far surpassed the most sanguine expectations ever formed of it by any of its advocates. As a financial measure, it cannot be said to have succeeded originally. In this latter respect it disappointed even Mr. Hill, who, though he never mentioned the date when the revenue derivable from the Post-.Office would be recovered under the new system, was very emphatic in his assurances that the loss during the first year would not exceed 300,000/. Calculating upon a fourfold increase of letters, in his pamphlet* he estimated the net revenue, after deducting for franks and newspapers, in round numbers at i, 300,000/. j a sum only 300,000/ less than the revenue of 1837. We do not say that Mr. Hill originally calculated on recover- ing the absolute net revenue by the collection of postage ; but any deficiency which might continue after the scheme was fairly tried, he expected to see supplied, eventually, by increased productiveness in other departments of the revenue, which would be benefited by the stimulus given to commerce by improved communication. f Before the Par- * Post-Office Reform, p. 26. f Results of the New Postal Arrangements, read before the Statistical Society of London, 1841. Anticipations Realized. 133 liamentaiy Committee he was equally explicit :* 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 made up~by the general improvement of trade and commerce in the country. It is true that events proved that the falling off in the gross revenue was considerably in excess of all the calculations which had been made : but even under this head, much may be said ; and in considering the different results of penny postage, we expect to be able to point out that the scheme had intrinsic qualities in it, which, under proper treatment, must have made it in all respects a success. Mr. Hill met another Parliamentary Committee in 1842, when his recommendations — in their principal features, at any orate — had been acted upon for nearly two years. In the course of this further investigation — to the circumstances attending which we shall presently allude — much information relative to the carrying out of the measure, its successes, and failures, was elicited. It was shown beyond all dispute, that the scheme had almost entirely prevented breaches of the law, and that if any illicit correspondence was carried on, it was simply and purely in matters where the question of speed was involved ; that the evils, amounting to social prohibitions, so prevalent before the change, had been, for the most part, removed. Commercial transactions, relating even to very small amounts, were now managed through the post. Small orders were constantly transmitted ; the business of the Money-order Office having increased almost twenty-fold — first, from the reduction of postage in 1840, and then from the reduction of the fees in November of the same year. These orders are generally acknowledged. Printers send their proofs without hesitation ;t the commercial traveller writes regu- * Second Report, p. 365. (f + The reader of such books as Co\f^er's Life and Letters, and Moore's Correspondence, will find that the means of obtaining franks, or carriage 134 Her Majesty's Mdils. larly to his principalj 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 countty, and the social and commercial advantages which were immediately seen to follow from it, we may here give some account of the correspondence which flowed in upon Mr. Hill between 1840 — 1842, and which he read to the select committee appointed to try the merits of his scheme. Ten times the weight of evidence, and far more striking instances of the advantages of the penny-post scheme might now be adduced, but it must be remembered that we are here speaking merely of first results, and when the scheme had been but two years in operation. Numbers of tradesmen wrote to say how their business had increased within the two years. One large merchant now Sent the whole of his invoices by post; another increased the number of his " prices current " by 10,000 per annum. Messrs. Pickford and Co. the carriers, despatched by post eight times the number of letters posted in 1839 ; whilst the letters, had they been liable to be charged as per single sheet, would have numbered 720,000 in 1842 from this one firm, against 30,000 letters in 1839. In this case we have an exemplification of the correctness of the argument upon which Mr. Hill built his scheme ; for the increase of money actually paid for postage was at the rate of 33 per cent. Mr. Charles Knight, the London bookseller, said the penny postage stimulated every branch of his trade, and brought the country booksellers into almost daily com- for their manuscripts or proofs, gave the poets frequent uneasiness, and lost them much time. So with many needy literary men, in what Professor de Morgan somewhat absurdly calls the " Prercrwlandian days." The Professor himself gives an instance of an author sending up some dry manuscripts to him, under cover to ii member of Parlia- ment, expressing a bope, we think, that the representative would feel some interest in the subject. Professor Hensloiefs Testimony. 135 munication with the London houses. Mr. Bagster, the publisher of a Polyglot Bible in twenty-four languages, stated to Mr. Hill that the revision which he was just giving to his work as it was passing through the press would, on the old system, have cost him 1.500/. 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 im- proved ; conductors of educational establishments, how people were everywhere learning to write for the first time in order to enjoy the benefits of a free correspondence, and how night-classes for teaching writing to adults were springing up in all large towns for the same object. Mr. Stokes, the honorary secretary of the Parker Society — com- posed of the principal Church dignitaries and some intelligent laymen — which has done so much for ecclesiastical literature by reprinting the works of the early English reformers, stated that the Society could never have come into existence but for the penny postage. One of the principal advocates for the repeal of the Corn Laws subsequently gave it as his opinion, that their objects were achieved two years earlier than otherwise would have been the case, owing to the introduction of cheap postage. After a lapse of twenty years, many more useful societies might be mentioned of which the same could be said. An interesting letter from the late Professor Henslow, the then Rector of Hitcham in Suffolk, may be given, as it contains a pretty accurate estimate of the social advantages accruing to the masses. The professor had, consequent upon the change at the Post-Ofiice, arranged a scheme of co-operation for advancing among the landed interest of the county the progress of agricultural science. After stating that the mere suggestion of such a thing had involved him in a correspondence which he could not have sustained if it had not been for the penny postage, he goes on to say : " To the importance of the penny postage to those who cultivate science, I can bear most unequivocal testimony, as I am continually receiv- 136 Her Majesty's Mails. ing 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, " the use and advantage of education has been brought home to the common man (for it no longer costs him a day's pay to communicate with his family). A state machinery of school- masters 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 know- ledge 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 :t * Laing's Notes of a Travelle?: + Fraser's Magazine, September, 1862. False Prophecies. 137 " 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,* 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 poli- tically." And Mr. Hill himself, in addressing the Statistical Society in May, i84i,-j- made a statement which was neither an idle nor a vain boast, when he assured them that " the postman has now to make long rounds through humble districts where, heretofore, his knock was rarely heard." We have yet the second, or financial, aspect of the measure to consider. In two years a tolerably correct idea might be formed as to the results of the scheme financially j but it would certainly not be fair to attempt any full esti- mate of such a thorough reform within a more circum- scribed period. Not that this was not attempted. Colonel Maberly discovered, at the end of the first week, that Mr. Hill's plan had failed, at any rate, as a question of revenue. No doubt the wish was father to the thought. He not only thought so, however, but proceeded to take timely action and shield himself and his congeners against some probable * Mr. Joshua Leavitt. t Page 96. 138 Her Majesty's Mails. 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." * In the first year of penny postage, notwithstanding all the confident prophecies to the contrary from those who might have been supposed to have had means of judging, the net proceeds of the Post-Office were between four and five hundred thousand pounds, whilst the number of letters actually sent was tripled. Against a million and a half yearly revenue of the previous year, there certainly appeared an enormous deficit; but till all other arguments were exhausted, it ought not to have been considered either evidence or proof of the failure of cheap postage. In the first instance, the Post-Office authorities said the scheme would not pay its expenses : a year sufficed to prove their mistake. It was then said that the revenue sacrificed would never be recovered, and accidental circumstances, of which we shall presently speak, favoured for a time this view : the argu- ment, 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 two years that the gross revenue under the old would soon be reached under the new system, and even prospects that the past net revenue might, still be recover- able. Both these anticipations have now been entirely realized. With a tenfold — nay, in many cases, a hundred- fold — gain to different classes of the community — with the Post Office supplying more situations by thousands than under the ancien i-egime, the old gross revenue was passed in 1850-1, and the net revenue was reached last year. Moreover, every complaint under this head has long since been silenced. Many considerations went to hinder the * Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 246. Pdrtial Measured. 139 early growth of the revenue ; and it is to some of these considerations tliat we must now turn for a moment. It is of primary importance that the reader should re- member 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* In a speech which he delivered at Wolver- hampton, September 7th, 1839, he said: "The mere re- duction 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 econo- mical 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 pubhc 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 re- membered, 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 at- tempted, 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, Httle or nothing was done, though that httle was rendered easy of accomplishment by the uniformity of postage-rates. Not only was the scheme not fairly worked, and the improve- ments 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 * Parliamentary Committee, Third Report, p. 64. I40 Her Majesty s Mails. natural difficulties in the way of the measure were numerous enough without the addition of official opposition. Trade was flourishing when the Postage Bill was carried ; it was fearfully depressed in the first year of penny postage. It is well, as Miss Martineau points out, that none foreknew the heavy reverse which was at hand, and the long and painful depression that ensued after the passing of the Act, for none might then have had the courage to go into the enterprise. This circumstance, accounting, as it does, for some of the deficit in the first and second years, also served to test the real principles of the reform.* 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 communication to improve the general revenue of the country was clearly apparent so early as 1842; and this is a fact which ought not to be lost sight of for a moment. The reduction of postage-rates was to the community a reduction of taxation ; the capital released was driven into other and perhaps more legitimate chan- nels. The Exchequer lost revenue from one source, but it gained it in other ways, as a consequence on the outlay at the Post-Office. In 1842, there was an acknowledged loss to the Post-Office revenue of 900,000/. In the same year, no serious defalcation appeared in the general accounts of the country, notwithstanding the extent of the depression in trade. There were special as well as general considerations entering into the question of the acknowledged deficiency in the revenue. It is clear that Mr. Hill — who did not foresee that so much money would be sacrificed, and who was sanguine of recovering it at no distant date — likewise * " The first result of the scheme amply vindicated the policy of the new system, but it required progressive and striking evidence to exhaust all opposition." — Ency. Brit. Eighth Edition. Railway Mail-conveyance. 141 could have had but an indefinite idea of the vast amount of extra machinery which would be called into operation by the full development of his plans ; the extent of the measures that must follow if the country was to be equally privileged with cheap correspondence; and the concessions that would have to be granted when the wedge was driven in by this, his principal measure. As one only of the causes leading to the extra heavy expenses of the Post-Ofiice de- partment, we may mention the changes in the system of mail-conveyance consequent on the introduction of rail- ways. Dating from 1838, railways had been gradually absorbing all the stage-coach traffic. Mr. Hill, when making his original proposals, calculated that the number of chargeable letters might be increased twenty-four fold without overloading the mails, and without any material addition to the sums paid to contractors. So great and important — we would almost say vital — was the question of speed to the Post-Office, that railways were almost imme- diately brought into requisition, although the cost of the carriage of the mails was, at the outset, doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled ! Many striking examples of the great difference in the cost of the two services are fur- nished in different Post-Office Reports. For instance : * In 1844, a coach proprietor in the North of England actually paid to the Post-Office Department the sum of 200/. annu- ally for what he regarded as the privilege of conveying the mails, twice a-day, between Lancaster and Carlisle. Now the Post-OfiSce pays the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway the sum of 18,000/. annually for the same service. The items of charges for mail-conveyance by railway at the present time — if they could have been known by any means, or even guessed at, by the enterprising post-reformer of 1837 — might have had the effect of deterring him from offering his suggestions when he did. Certain it is, that the pro- posals would have had small chance of success, if those who had charge of the fiscal concerns of the country could * Postmaster-General's First Report. 142 > Her Majesty's Mails. have known that the sum which would have to be paid by the Post-Office to railway companies alone, in the year 1863, would not fall far short of the whole amount stand- ing for the entire postal expenses of 1839. In 1842 Mr. Hill left the Treasury, and was thus cut off from all active supervision of his measures. The Post-Office authorities found a friend in Mr. Goulbourn, the new Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, who was known to sympathise with their views. It had been arranged that Mr. Hill should continue his services for some short time longer in his im- provised place at the Treasury Offices. The divergence in the views of the new chiefs and the reformer made his position more and more unpleasant. On his being bowed out of office, Mr. Hill petitioned the House of Commons. The petition — which was presented by Mr. Baring, the ex- Chancellor of the Exchequer- — described briefly the Post- Office measures of 1839; his own appointment to the Treasury; the fact of his appointment being annulled; the benefit of the new measures in spite of their partial execu- tion ; the obstructive policy of the Post-Office officials ; and thus concludes : — " That the opinion adopted by Her Majesty's Govern- ment, that the further progress in Post-Office improvements may be left to the Post-Office itself, is contrary to all past experience, and is contradicted by measures recently adopted by that establishment. " That, notwithstanding the extreme depression of trade which existed when the penny rate was established, and has prevailed ever since; and notwithstanding the very imperfect manner in which your Petitioner's plans have been carried into effect, the want of due economy in the Post-Office, the well-known dislike entertained by many of those persons to whom its execution has been entrusted, and the influence such dislike must necessarily have upon itSdSuccess, yet the results of the third year of partial trial, as shown by a recent return made to the House of Lords, The Select Committee of 1843. 143 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-Ofifice, 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 in- tentions of the Legislature." The prayer of the petition was granted, and its proceed- ings are duly chronicled.* The object of this committee was " to inquire into the measures which have been adopted for the general introduction of a penny rate of postage, and for facilitating the conveyance of letters ; the results of such measures, as far as relates to the revenue and expenditure of the Post-Oflfice and the general convenience of the country ; and to report their observations thereon to the House." Before proceeding to give any account of the further measures brought under discussion in connexion with this committee, we must give, in a few sentences, a resume of the principal improvements which had actually been carried out during the interval of the sittings of the two committees. r. 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,t the necessary facility being afforded by the introduction of * Select Committee on the Post-Office, 1843. t 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 after- wards, 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. 144 Her Majesty's Mails. postage-stamps. Double postage was levied on letters not prepaid in London only. 3. Day-mails were established on the principal railway- lines running out of London, thus giving some of the principal towns in the provinces one additional delivery, with two mails from the metropolis in one day. 4. An additional 'delivery was established in London, and two were given to some of the suburbs. 5. Colonial and foreign rates for letters were greatly lowered, the inland rates — viz. the rates paid for those letters passing through this country — being abandoned alto- gether in some cases, as Mr. Hill had recommended. 6. The privilege of franking, private and official, was abolished, and low charges made for the transmission of parliamentary papers. 7. Arrangements were made for the registration of letters. 8. The Money-order Office was rendered available to a fourfold extent. And — 9. The number of letters increased from 75 millions in 1838-9, to 219 millions in 1842-3.* This was certainly a' large instalment of the improve- ments which the promoters of penny-post reform hoped to see realized ; but, at the same time, it was only an instal- ^ ment. The committee for which Mr. Hill had petitioned must now judge for themselves whether all had been done that might and ought to have been done to enhance the merits of the measure, and make it as profitable to the country as possible. In addition, it was requisite that they should consider several further suggestions which Mr. Hill had, since the introduction of his plan, proposed as likely to improve it, as well as hear him on some of the objections that had been raised to it. Thus, with regard to the latter, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Goulbourn) had stated just before the committee was appointed, that " the Post- Office did not now pay its expenses.'' This statement was * Select Committee on Postage, 1843, p. 93. Security of Letters. 145 startling, inasmuch as Colonel Maberly himself had given 500,000/. or 600,000/. as the proceeds of the penny postage rates in the advent year of the measure. But Mr. Hill re- solved the difficulty. The inconsistency was explained quite simply, that in a return furnished by the Post-Office, the whole of the cost of the packet-service — a little over 600,000/. — was charged against the Post-Office revenue. Though the cost of the packets had not been charged against the Post-Office for twenty years previously, this new item was here debited in the accounts to the prejudice of the scheme ; and Mr. Goulbourn, who disclaimed any hostility to the new measure, thought himself justified, under the circumstances, in making the statement in question. Again : It was strongly and frequently urged that corre- spondence was less secure than under the old system. It was said by the Post-Office officials, that the system of pre- pa)Tnent operated prejudicially against the security of valu- able 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 considered impracticable to continue the L 1 46 Her Majesty's Mails. service, and the Post-Office authorities, with the sanction of the Treasury, dropped it altogether. The Money-order Office was available; the fees had been greatly reduced, and the officials, in warning persons against sending coin in letters, strongly recommended that this Office should be used for the purpose. Still, the number of coin-letters increased, and the number of depredations increased with them, to the great prejudice of the measure. Mr. Hill, whilst in the Treasury, recommended a system of regis- tration of letters, which appears to have been somewhat similar to a plan proposed by the Post-Office authorities themselves in 1838. A system of registration was the result ; but the rate of charge of one shilling per letter was enough in itself to render the entire arrangement nugatory. In October, 1841, Lord Lowther proposed to the Treasury that they should let him put down the evil in another way, viz. that they should allow him to use his powers, under the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 96, sec. 39, to establish a compulsory regis- tration of letters supposed to contain coin or jewellery, and to make the charge for such compulsory registration a shilling per letter. The Treasury Lords referred the proposal to Mr. Hill. He concurred in the opinion of the Postmaster- General, and thought the principle of compulsory regis- tration 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 volimtai-ily . Mr. Hill, therefore, suggested that the fee should be at once lowered to sixpence, to be reduced still further as soon as practicable. The public, under a lower rate, would have little excuse for continuing a bad practice ; but if it was continued, restrictive measures might then be tried, as the only remaining method of protecting the public from the consequences of their own imprudence. The sixpenny rate would, he thought, be remunerative ; nor would the letters increase to a much greater numlier than Mr. Hiir s further Proposals. 147 that reached under the old system when they were registered gratuitously. This subject was still under discussion when the special committee was granted, when, of course, all the proposals relative to the registration of letters were laid before it and investigated. Strong objections were made to Mr. Hill's proposition to lower the rate. It was con- tended that the number of registered letters would so increase, that other Post-Office work could not be accom- plished. The Postmaster-General, for example, contested the principle of registration altogether, admitting, however, that it was useful in reducing the number of ordinary letters containing coin, and the consequent temptations to the officers of the Post-Office. Like many of the additional proposals, this subject was left undecided ; but no one at this date questions the propriety of the recommendations made under this head. The charge for registration has, within the last few years, been twice reduced, with benefit to the revenue, and no hindrance to the general efficiency of the Post-Office. Not only so, but the compulsory regis- tration clause is now in active operation. We cannot enter far into the minutife of the Com- mittee'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 super- seded, must more than suffice for the work of the Office under his simplified arrangements : yet no reduction had been made. Economy, he said, had been neglected in the way contracts had been let ; in the manner railway companies were remunerated for carrying mails. He computed that the sum of 10,000/. a-year had been paid to these com- panies 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 148 Her Majesty's Mails. 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 gene- rally 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 — (i) The plan of a cheap registration of letters. (2) That all inland letters should be prepaid (care being taken that postmasters should be supplied with a sufficient stock of postage-stamps), and double postage charged for all unpaid letters. (3) Reduction in the staff of officers till the number of letters increased to five or sixfold ; that the London officers should be fully and not only partially employed ; and that female employment might be encouraged in the provinces. (4) Simplification in the mode of assorting letters. (5) The adoption of measures to induce the public to facilitate the operations of the Post-Office — by giving complete and legible addresses to letters, by making slits in house-doors, and other means. (6) The estabhshment of a greater number of rural post-offices, till, eventually, there should be one set up in every village. (7) All re- strictions 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. Close of the Inquiry. 149 With especial reference to the London Office, Mr. Hill recommended (i) the union of the two corps of general and district letter-carriers ; (2) the establishment of district offices ; (3) a 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 com- bated by the officers of the Post-Office during their exami- nation — and successfully so — though it is certainly remark- able that, in the face of their opinions, the great majority of the proposals have subsequently been carried out with un- questioned 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 con- sidered. Of course the non possumus argument was fre- quently introduced. Colonel Maberly said it was an impossibility that there should be hourly deliveries in London. A post-office in every village was thought equally absurd. We need only add, that the labours of the Com- mittee led to little practical result. They decided, by a majority of four, not to report any judgment on the matter. Though this result must have been eminently unsatisfactory to Mr. Hill, especially on account of their not having ex- pressed themselves on his grievances, yet, by refusing to exonerate the Post-Office from the charges which he had brought against it, the Committee may be said to have found for the reformer. With regard to Mr. Hill's further suggestions, they refer to the evidence, and " entertain no doubt that his propositions will receive the fullest considera- tion " from the Treasury and the Post-Office. So they did eventually, after some weary years of waiting. Fifty years before, Mr. Palmer, writing to Mr. Pitt, said, " I have had every possible opposition from the Office." Mr. Hill might truly have said the saine. Thus "it is that history repeats itself, and "the thing which hath been, it is that which shall be." 150 Her Majesty's Mails. CHAPTER IX. THE POST-OFFICE AND LETTER-OPENING. It will be fresh in the memory of many readers, that the year 1844 revealed to the public certain usages of the Government, and a branch of post-office business — pre- viously kept carefully in the dark — which went far to destroy the confidence of the nation in the sanctity of its correspondence. In the session of 1844, Mr. Thomas S. Duncombe presented a petition from Mr. W. J. Linton, M. Mazzini, and two other persons residing at 47, Devon- shire Street, Queen's Square, complaining that their letters were regularly detained and opened at the Post-Office. The petitioners declared that they " considered such a practice, introducing the spy-system of foreign states, as repugnant to every principle of the British constitution, and subversive of that public confidence which was so essential to a commercial country." The petitioners prayed for an inquiry, and Mr. Duncombe supported their prayer. Sir James Graham, then Home Secretary, got up in the House and stated that, as regarded three of the petitioners, their letters had not been detained ; as for the case of M. Mazzini, a warrant had been obtained from the Home- Office to stop and open the correspondence of that person. He had the power by law and he had exercised it. " The authority," said Sir James, "was vested in the responsible Ministers of the Crown, and was intrusted to them for the public safety; and while Parliament placed its confidence in the individual exercising such a power, it was not for the 77^1? Fost- Office and Letter-opening. 151 public good to pry or inquire into the particular causes which called for the exercise thereof." * He hoped that the House would confide in his motives, and that they would not call upon him to answer any further inquiries. The speech of the Home Secretary added fuel to the flame. Had Sir James Graham entered more fully into the subject, and gone into the real state of the law, it is probable that the subject might have been allowed to drop. Not only was the slightest explanation of the principle adopted refused by the Home Secretary, but that refusal was given somewhat cavalierly. Public attention was thus roused ; the most exaggerated rumours got abroad ; it was openly stated by the press that a gigantic system of espionage had been established at St. Martin's-le-Grand, and now no mere general assurances of its unreality could dispel the talk or stop newspaper extravagances. Sir James Graham was abused most unreasonably. There was hardly a public print or public speaker in the kingdom that did not heap insults or expressions of disgust on his name. This state of things could not continue ; accordingly, we find Lord Radnor, moving soon after in the House of Lords, for a return of all the warrants which had been issued for the detention of letters during a certain peHod, animadverting especially upon the alleged practice of general warrants to intercept all letters addressed to a certain person instead of there being issued a separate warrant in the case of each letter.t Tliis mode of proceeding, as he truly said, if acted upon, was a flagrant violation of the words of the statute. Lord Campbell expressed the same views. Lord Brougham observed that the first statute conferring this power had been framed by Lord Somers. It had been continued ever since by various Acts, and had been ex- ercised by Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Grenville, and Mr. Fox, as well as under the administrations of Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne. If Lord Campbell's construction of the Act were correct, the sooner they had a new one the * Hansard, 1844. + Ibid. 152 Her Majesty's Mails. better. Lord Denman was for putting an end to the power V altogether. The return was granted, the Duke of Wellington approving the Home Secretary's conduct not- withstanding. 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, complaining that his letters had been detained and opened. Mr. Buncombe 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. Buncombe, "and this was why his letters had been tampered with." After describing the way in which letters were opened, he concluded a most powerful speech by again moving for a committee of inquiry. He did not want to know Govern- ment secrets ; he doubted if they were worth knowing ; but he wanted inquiry into the practice of the Bepartment, which he contended was unconstitutional and contrary to law. Sir James Graham, without entering into any further ex- planation, except saying that the law had not been violated, and that if it had, the honourable member might prove it before a legal tribunal, objected strongly, and in almost a defiant manner, to any committee. Mr. Macaulay, Lord Howick, Mr. Shell, and Lord John Russell warmly supported the motion for an inquiry. Sir Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, and Mr. Monckton Milnes opposed it, when it was rejected by a majority of forty-four. What party speeches failed in doing, the clamour and popular tumult outside at length accomplished. Popular ridicule settled upon the subject; pencil and pen set to work upon it with a will. News- papers were unusually, and sometimes unreasonably, free in their comments, and all kinds of stories about the Post- Office went the round of the press. Sir James Graham had to bear the brunt of the whole business ; whereas the Motions for an Inquiry. 153 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 ConiBions was singularly unwise and unadroit. The subject had now come to be regarded as of too great public importance to be suffered to rest ; besides, it was an attractive one for the Opposition side of the House. Mr. Duncombe renewed his motion towards the end of July in the same session. It was in a slightly altered form, inasmuch as he now moved for a select committee " to inquire into a department of Her Majesty's Post-Ofifice commonly called ' the secret or inner office,' the duties and employment of the persons engaged therein, and the authority under which the functions of the said office were discharged." Mr. Duncombe made some startling statements as to the mode and extent of the practice of letter-opening, all of which he declared he could prove if the committee was granted. The Government saw the necessity of giving way, in order that the public mind might be quieted. The Home Secre- tary now acknowledged, that since he was last questioned on the subject, the matter had assumed a very serious aspect, and he thought it was time that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, should be told. Though he would have readily endured the obloquy cast upon him, even though it should crush him, rather than injure the public service ; and though he had endured much, especially after the votes and speeches of the Opposition leaders — all men conversant with official duties — in favour of Mr. Buncombe's former motions, he now felt himself relieved from his late reserve, and felt bound to confess that he beUeved it to be impossible to maintain the power con- fided to him longer vrithout 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 154 Her Majesty s Mails. « Committee should be a secret one, invested with the amplest powers to commence the investigation at once, and should be composed of five usually voting against the Government, viz. Sir C. Lemon, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Strutt, Mr. Orde, and the O'Connor Don; and four who generally support them, viz. Lord Sandon (chairman), Mr. T. Baring, Sir W. Heathcote, and Mr. H. Drummond. " To this committee," said Sir James, " I gladly submit my personal honour and my official conduct, and I make my submission without fear." The committee was appointed after Mr. Wilson Patten's name had been substituted for Mr. Drummond's, on account of the latter being a lawyer ; and after an un- successful attempt to add Mr. Buncombe'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 Com- mittee of the House of Lords was appointed at the same time. Sir James Graham's examination lasted four days, when he fulfilled his pledge to make a full and unreserved disclosure of all he knew. Almost all the members of that and former Governments were examined. Lord John Russell confessed to having done the same as Sir James Graham when he held the seals of the Home-Office, though he had not used the power so frequently. He also stated that he supported Mr. 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 ribbonism, which could not be ferretted out by other means." Lord Tankerville testified to the existence of a warrant signed by Mr. Fox in 1782, ordering the detention and opening of all letters addressed to foreign ministers ; another, ordering that all the letters addressed to Lord George Gordon should be opened. Witnesses were also brought from the Post-Office. Acts and Precedents. 155 Mr. Duncombe, on being asked for a list of witnesses to prove his allegations, refused to hand in their names unless he were allowed to be present during the examination. This the Committee had no power to grant, and consequently he declined to proceed. Mr. Duncombe appealed to the House, but the decision of the Committee was confirmed. No inconsiderable part of the Committee's time was taken up in the production and examination of records, acts, and precedents bearing on the subject. The officers of the State Paper Office and other high Government functionaries produced records and State papers of great importance, from which we learn many interesting particulars of early postal history. At some risk of being charged with ana- chronism, we have thought it desirable to introduce these details in the order of the subject under treatment. James I. in establishing a foreign post, was more anxious that Government secrets should not be disclosed to foreign countries, " which cannot be prevented if a promiscuous use of transmitting foreign letters and packets should be suf fered," than that the post should be of use to traders and merchants. There was a motive for the jealous monopoly of postal communications ; and if the proclamation from which the above is taken (Rymer's Foedera) is not clear on the subject, the following extract from a letter written by the one of James's secretaries to the other, Lord Conway, is sufficiently explicit : " Your Lordship best knoweth what account we shall be able to give in our place in Parliament of that which passeth by letters in and out of the land, if every man may convey letters as he chooseth.'' Sir John Coke, the writer of the above, would seem to have got rid of the difficulty in a thorough manner, if we may believe an English letter-writer addressing a friend in Scotland, when he wrote, "I hear the posts are waylaid, and all letters taken from them and brought to Secretary Coke.* During the Commonwealth, of course, letter-opening was * Lang's Historical Summary of the Post-Office in Scotland. Post- master-General's Third Report. 156 Her Majesty's Mails. to be expected. The very reason which Cromwell gave for establishing the posts was, that they would be "the best means of discovering and preventing many wicked designs against the Commonwealth, intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated but by letter of escript." Foreign and home letters shared an equal fate. On one occasion, the Venetian ambassador remonstrated openly that his letters had been delayed and read, and it was not denied. At the Restoration, a distinct clause in the "Post-Office Charter " provided that " no one, except under the im- mediate warrant of one of our principal Secretaries of State, shall presume to open any letters or pacquets not directed unto themselves." Under the improved Act of Queen Anne, 17 n, it is again stated that " no person or persons shall presume to open, detain, or delay any letter or letters, after the same is or shall be delivered into the General or other Post- Office, and before delivery to the persons to whom they are addressed, except by an express warrant in writing under the hand of one of the principal Secretaries of State for every such opening, detaining, or delaying." This Act was continued under all the Georges, and again agreed to in 1837, under i Vict. c. 32. During the last century, the practice of granting warrants was exceedingly common ; and they might be had on the most trivial pretences. It was not the practice to record such warrants regularly in any official book,* and few are so recorded : we can only guess at their number from the frequent mention made of them in the State trials of the period, and in other incidental ways. In 1723, at Bishop Atterbury's trial, copies of his letters were produced and given in evidence against him. A clerk from the Post- Office certified to the fact that they had passed through the post, and that he had seen them opened, read, and copied. Atterbury, as well he might, asked for the authority for this practice ; and, especially, if the Secretary of State had * Report of Secret Committee, 1844, p. 9. The Committee of i"] ^t^. 157 directed that his letters should be interfered with^ A majority in the House of Lords decided that the question need not be answered. It is pleasant to relate that twenty- nine peers recorded an indignant protest against this de- cision. One of them proposed to cross-examine the Rev. (!) Edward Willes, "one of His Majesty's Post-Office deci- pherers," 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 ap- prehension. On his requiring its production, a duly certified copy was brought into Court by the Crown officers and given in evidence. Twelve years after the trial of Bishop Atterbury, members of both Houses became alarmed for the safety of their correspondence, and succeeded in getting up an agitation on the subject. Several members of the House of Com- mons 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.'' f It transpired on this occasion that a regular organization existed, at enormous expense, for the examination of home and foreign correspondence. The Secretary of the Post-Oflice stated that the greater part of 45,000/. had been paid, without voucher of any kind, to Robert, Earl of Oxford, for defraying the expenses of this establishment. Among * Lords' Jotirnal, xxii. pp. 183-6. + Commons' Journal, vol. xxii. p. 462. 158 Her Majesty's Mails. the principal annual expenses were the salaries of the chie decipherers * (Dr. Willes and his son), 1,000/. ; the second decipherer, 800/. ; the third, 500/.; four clerks, 1,600/.; door- keeper, 50/; incidental charges, but principally for seals, 100/. 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 E.eport of the Secret Committee, p. 12, we find that a warrant is granted, in 1741, for what purpose may be judged by the following: "At the request of A(,a warrant is issued to permit A's eldest son to open and inspect any letters which A's youngest son might write to two females, one of which that youngest son had imprudently married." And this inquisitorial spirit beginning with the highest, descended even to the lowest class of ofiScials. A writer in the Encyclopadia Britannica, vol. xviii. p. 405 (quoting from the State Trials, vol. xviii. p. 1369), tells us, in relation to this subject, that so little attention was paid to the requirements of the Act of Queen Anne, or the Committee of the House of Commons just referred to, the very bell- men 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 * 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 reVarded with the Deanery of Lincoln and afterwards with the Bishopric of St. David's. Intercepting Foreign Correspondence. 159 letters I received of Dr. Hensey were generally directed abroad and to foreigners ; and I, knowing the Doctor to be a Roman Catholic, advised the examining-clerk at the office to inspect his letters." This witness, in answer to the questions, " How came you to know Dr. Hensey to be a Roman Catholic 1" and "What had you to do with his religion ?" clinched his evidence thus: " We letter-carriers and postmen have great opportunities to know the charac- ters and dispositions of gentlemen, from their servants, connexions, and correspondents. But, to be plain, if I once learn that a person who lives a genteel life is a Roman Catholic, I immediately look upon him as one who, by education and principle, is an inveterate enemy to my King and country." At the beginning of the present century an improvement was carried out. It was seen that the indiscriminate issue of the warrants was stimulated and fostered by the fact that no account was kept of them. As a means of placing a necessary check upon the officers, Lord Spencer, then Home Secretary, introduced the custom in 1806, of re- cording 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 un- enviable 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 i6o Her Majesty s Mails. it was clear, " that it had been for a long period of time and under successive administrations, up to the present time, an established practice that the foreign correspondence of foreign Ministers passing through the General Post- OfRce 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 am- bassadors of Charles V. he went to work very openly, having ordered " a watche should be made " in and about London, and all persons going en route to the Continent to be questioned and searched. "One riding towards Brayneford," says an early record, "when examyned by the watche, answered so closely, that upon suspicion thereof, they searched hym, and found secretly hyd aboute hym a pacquet of letters in French." In the reign of Queen Mary, Gardiner ordered that the messengers of Noailles, the French ambassador, should be taken and searched in much the same manner.* Notwithstanding this, they would scarcely be prepared for the information that later Govern- ments, with less to fear, had preferred more secret measures, establishing a system of espionage which was certainly not in accordance with the English character, or likely to subserve the interests of peace in Europe. That the arrangement with regard to foreign mails was unlawful, may be judged by the prompt action which was taken in the matter. "Since June, 1844, the Postmaster-General," so runs the Lords' Report two months later, " having had his attention called to the fact, that there was no sufficient authority for this practice, has discontinued it altogether." The Commons' Committee reported that the letter-opening * Froude. Finding of the Committee of 1844. 161 warrants might be divided into two classes — (i) Those issued in furtherance of criminal justice, usually for the purpose of affording some clue to the hiding-place of an offender, or to the mode or place of concealment of property. (2) Those issued for the purpose of discovering the designs of persons known or suspected to be engaged in proceed- ings 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 pro- ceeding ,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,* " unless retained by special order, as sometimes happens in criminal cases, closed and re-sealed without affixing any mark to indicate that they have been so detained and opened, and are forwarded by post according to their respective superscriptions." They then classed the warrants issued during the present century in the following way : — For thefts, murders, and frauds, 162 ; for treason and sedition, 77; foreign correspondence, 20; prisoners of war, 13; miscellaneous, 11 ; and for uncertain purposes, 89. Un- doubtedly, with one class of letters, the Government were only performing a duty in applying the law as laid down in I Vict. c. 33. The information obtained by the warrants to find the locale of Chartist disaffection was described by the Committee as most valuable and useful to the Govern- ment. 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 * Report of Secret Committee, 1844, pp. 14-17. M 1 62 ^ Her Majesty's Mails. 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* which took place yearly at that time, could by any means be called an efficient instrument of police, are vastly different questions. With regard to the general question of letter-opening, the issue was altogether vague and uncertain. Though the practical end of the inquiry was, no doubt, gained, and warrants may almost be said to have ceased, still the Committees recommended Parliament to decide that the power and prerogative of opening letters, under certain given circumstances, should not be abrogated. They argued that, if the right of the Secretary of State was denied, it would be equivalent to advertising to every criminal conspirator against the public peace, that he might employ the Post-Office with impunity. + It was decided, in consequence of this finding, that the law should remain unaltered. Mr. Buncombe was not satisfied. In the next session he attempted to revive the subject by calling the attention of the House to what he termed the evasive and unsatis- factory character of the report of the Secret Committee, and moving the appointment of a Select Committee to investigate the whole subject over again ; but he met with little success. Sir J. Graham, Sir. R. Peel, Viscount Sandon, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Ward, and Lord John Manners, spoke against his motion, which he then withdrew. Upon this, Lord Howick tried to carry a resolution for the appoint- ment of a Committee to inquire into the case of Mr. Dun- combe's letters only. Mr. Disraeli seconded the motion, desiring not to have the Government censured, but to see the practice condemned. Mr. Roebuck believed that the country would not be content until the invidious power intrusted to the Secretary of State respecting letter-opening was absolutely abolished. Lord John Russell spoke against * Report of the Secret Committee, 1844, pp. 14-17. + Ibid. Commons' Committee. Attempts to Revive the Subject. 163 the motion, which was negatived by 240 to 145 members.* A few days later Mr. Buncombe renewed his attack in another form, moving that Colonel Maberly, Secretary to the Post-Office, should attend at the bar and produce certain books connected with his office. The Home Secretary re- sisted the motion, grounding his objection on the reports of the Committees and. the necessities of the public service. Lord John Russell and a great number of the Liberal party concurring in this view, the motion was again rejected by 188 to 113. t For some weeks the subject was not again noticed in Parliament, and probably would have dropped ; but it was a theme on which the Press could not be induced to be silent. Fresh events occurring in Italy, owing, it was said, to the past action of the English Government at the Post-Office, Mr. Shell gave notice of a resolution, which he moved on the ist of April, 1845, expressing regret that Government had opened the letters of M. Mazzini, thus frustrating the political movement in Italy. Few members; however, showed any desire to prolong a desultory debate, and thirty-eight only were found willing to affirm Mr. Shell's proposition. Mr. Wakley, a day or two afterwards, tried to revive the same discussion, but a motion which he made was negatived by three to one. On the 8th of April, 1845, ■'^^- Duncombe, while intimating his desire to waive personal questions, and disclaiming all party feeling, moved for leave to bring in a Bill " to secure the inviolability of letters passing through the Post-Office." He was at war with the system, not with the Government. Let the Govern- ment approach the subject in a fair and not in a party spirit. All the Ministers, however, and the chiefs of the Liberal party, again stoutly resisted any change in the law; and this long controversy was finally set at rest by an adverse decision of 161 to 78. The English people, it must be added, all along objected less to the power which the Government possessed in the exertion of their discretion, than to the manner in which * Hansard, 1844-5. t Ilnd. M 2 164 Her Majesty's Mails. that power was exercised. Mr. Buncombe'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 re- pugnant to every feeling of Englishmen. Had the officers of the Government broken open letters in the same way as, under certain circumstances, the law allows the sheriff's officers to break open houses and writing-desks, there might still have been complainings, but these complainings would neither have been so loud nor yet so justifiable.* 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 un- suitable to the atmosphere of England. The law, it is true, remains unaltered, but it is believed to be virtually a dead letter. * Among many expressions of opinion to which the inquiry on the subject gave rise, we find the following characteristic effusion from Thomas Carlyle : "It is a question vital to us that sealed letters in an English post-office be, as we all fancied they were, respected as things sacred ; that opening of men's letters, a practice near of kin to picking men's pockets, and to other still viler and far fataler forms of scoundrel- ism, be not resorted to in England, except in cases of the very last extremity. When some new Gunpowder Plot may be in the wind, some double-dyed high treason, or imminent national wreck not avoidable otherwise, then let us open letters ; not till then. To all Austrian Kaisers and such like, in their time of trouble, let us answer, as our fathers from of old have answered — Not by such means is help here for you." i65 CHAPTER X. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. From the year 1844 to the present time the progress of the Post-Office institution has been great and unexampled. Among Mr. Hill's minor proposals were those for the insti- tution of day-mails, the establishment of rural posts, and the extension of free deliveries. The period between the passing of the Penny Postage Act and the year 1850 saw these useful suggestions carried out to an extent which proved highly beneficial to the public. With regard to the day-mails, Mr. Hill proposed that on the morning of each day, as well as evenings, mails should leave London after certain country and continental mails had arrived, by which means letters, instead of remaining nearly twenty-four hours in London, might be at once forwarded to their addresses, and two mails per diem be thus given to most English towns. The Earl of Lichfield would seem to have seen the useful and practicable nature of these proposals, for, being Post- master-General at the time, he did not wait to adopt them till the passing of the Act of 1839. As early as 1838 one or two day-mails were established, running out of London. Before 1850 we find the list included those of Dover, Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham, and Cambridge. These day-mails are now established on every considerable line of railway in the kingdom. London, in 1864, possesses not only day-mails on all the lines running from the metro- polis, but one to Ireland, and two by different routes into Scotland Further, a great number of railways in the 1 66 Her Majesty's Mails. United Kingdom have stipulated to take mails by any passenger-train. Mr. Hill also contemplated the establishment of rural posts in every village. In 1840, the number of village post-offices was about 3,000. At that time nothing but " guarantee posts " — by means of which parties in the country might obtain additional accommodation on their consenting to bear the whole additional expense — were granted to new localities. Mr. Hill urged upon the Post- Office authorities the abandonment of this plan, and the gradual establishment of ordinary post-offices. He calcu- lated that an annual outlay of 70,000/. would suffice to give 600 additional daily posts to neglected districts, and he pledged his word that the outlay would be remunerative. There are now more than 8,000 additional rural post-offices, the erection of which has done all for the public and the Post-Office revenue that Mr. Hill anticipated. The extension of free deliveries, also strongly urged by Mr. Hill, has progressed fairly from that time to this. Round each provincial town there used to be drawn a cordon, letters, &c. for places beyond which had either to be brought by private messenger, or were charged an extra sum on delivery as a gratuity to the postmaster. From year to year new places have been included in these free deliveries ; soon the most remote and inaccessible parts of our country — the nooks and crannies of our land — will enjoy nearly equal privileges with our large towns, more rural messengers being appointed as this work approaches completion. In 1848, the advantages of a book-post were granted to the country. By the new rate, a- single volume might be sent to any part of the United Kingdom at the uniform rate of sixpence per pound. The privileges of this book- post were gradually extended to the colonies. The railway companies, at the time and subsequently, complained loudly that the Post-Office, by establishing the book-post, had entered into an unfair competition with them. This com- A Book-Post established. 167 petition was described as very injurious, on account of the low rates at which books and book-packets were conveyed. It was answered, however — and in this answer the country very generally agreed — that the railway companies had no legal or equitable right to the monopoly of parcel-traffic ; ■ and if they had, the exceptions taken in the case of the book-post were only to books and printed matter intimately connected with objects such as the diffusion of knowledge and the promotion of education — matters with which the Post-Office was now most immediately concerned. The facts, however, were, that very few indeed of the packets sent by the book-post were such as had been previously sent by railway. The Post-Office, by offering its vast machinery for the transmission of such articles, especially to remote districts, gave facilities which had never before been offered, and which caused books and documents to pass through the Post-Office which otherwise, had no book- post existed, would not have been sent through any other channel. A Select Committee, which sat in 1854, on the conveyance of mails by railway, took evidence on this point, and in their report stated it as their opinion, that a large prliportion of the packets sent would not have been so forwarded but for the facilities offered by the Post-Office in their distribution, Any loss, however, which the railways might experience in this respect was more than counterbalanced when the Executive abolished the compulsory impressed stamp on newspapers, this arrangement giving rise to a conveyance of newspaper-parcels by railway-trains to an enormous extent, and proportionately lessening the work and profits of the Post-Office. The year 1849 is principally remarkable for the agitation which existed with respect to Sunday labour at the General Post-Office. Previous to this year no work was allowed in the London establishment, but now an arrangement was proposed to receive the mails as on other days, officers attending, though not during the period of Divine service, 1 68 Her Majesty's Mails. to assort and dispose of the letters received. Public meetings were held in London and many of the principal towns to protest against any increase of the Post-Office work. Public opinion in the metropolis was pretty unani- mous against any change; in the provinces it was more divided. The authorities gave way before the force of opinion, and the London office has remained closed ever since on the first day of the week. In the country different arrangements are made. In Scotland, and in one or two English towns, no letter-delivery takes place from house to house, a short time only being allowed for the public to apply for their letters at the post-office windows. In the majority of English towns the early morning delivery only is made. The day-mails, as a rule, do not run on Sundays. The post-offices in the major part of our English and Scotch villages are entirely closed on Sundays. Wires having been laid down to St. Martin' s-le-Grand from the different railway stations, telegraph messages were first used to expedite post-office business on the 3rst of August, 1849. All important matters, such as bag or registered letter irregularities, requiring prompt notice, are made known or explained through the medium of the electric telegraph. Commissioners were appointed from about this year to secure the services of railways on the most equitable terms, and to arbitrate for that purpose between the Post-Office and the railway companies. The Committee, on the conveyance of mails by railways, suggested this course. On the debate which followed the report of the Committee to which we have before alluded, Sir Robert Peel frankly acknowledged " the enormous error " into which he, and the House generally "had fallen when the railroad bills were under discussion. They ought to have foreseen," said he, " when these bills were before them, that they were in fact establish- ing 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. The Annual Reports. 169 and they ought, therefore, to have stipulated — as it would have been perfectly just and easy for them to have done — that certain pubUc services should be performed at a reasonable rate.'' However, as this had not been done, Parliament could only fall back upon its inherent right to say on what terms such services should be provided from time to time ; for which purpose they could not do better than employ arbitration, as it was the same course pursued when the companies disputed with the owners of property the value ■ of land compulsorily taken for railway works. Sir James Graham * moved a declaratory clause on the occasion, that arbitrators should take into consideration the cost of the construction of the particular lines in awarding the sums for different services. Mr. Labouchere, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, speaking for the Government, wished the arbitrators to be wholly free, but he gave a pledge on behalf of the Post-Office that no attempt would be made to exclude the cost of construction from the consideration of the arbitrators. With this assurance, the Opposition ex- pressed themselves satisfied. In 1855, the Postmaster-General, the late Lord Canning, commenced the practice of furnishing the Lords of the Treasury, and through them the pubhc, with annual reports on the Post-Office. These reports, which have been con- tinued up to the present time, show the progress of the Department from year to year, and present to the general reader, as well as to the statistician, a vast mass of interest- ing information. Compared with the reports of the Com- mittee of Revenue Inquiry or of the Commissioners of Post- Office Inquiry, they are lucid and interesting in their nature. Though constructed on the same plan and little varied from year to year, they' are much above the ordinary run of official documents. Lord Canning, in recommending the adoption of the plan, gave as one reason among many, that the Post-Office service was constantly expanding and im- proving, but that information respecting postal matters, * Life of Sir James Graham, By Mr. T. MacCullagh Torrens, vol. ii. 170 Her Majesty s Mails. especially postal changes, was not easily accessible. This information, he believed, could be given without any in- convenience, whilst many misapprehensions, and possibly complaints, might be avoided. The public might thus see what the Post-Office was about ; learn their duty towards the Department, and find out — what half the people did not then and perhaps do not even yet understand — what were the benefits and privileges to which they were justly entitled at its hands. The Duke of Argyll succeeded Lord Canning in the management of the Post-Office in 1855, and his years of office are distinguished by many most important improve- ments and reforms. One important change consisted in the amalgamation of the two corps of London letter- carriers, effected soon after the installation of the Duke of Argyll at the Post-Office. The two classes of " General Post " and " London District " letter-carriers were perhaps best known before 1855, by the former wearing a red, and the latter a blue, uniform. The object of this amalgamation, for which Mr. Hill had been sedulously striving from the period of penny postage, was to avoid the waste of time, trouble, and expense consequent on two different men going over the same ground to distribute two classes of letters which might, without any real difficulty, be delivered to- gether. 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.* Still more important was the division of London into ten * Postmaster- General' s i^iVrf .ff^o?-/, p. 35. The London Districts. 171 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-Ofifice business. Under the new arrangements, each district was to be treated in many respects as a separate town, district post-offices to be erected in each of them. Thus, instead of all district post-letters being carried from the receiving houses to the chief office at St. Martin's-le-Grand, there to be sorted and re-distributed, the letters must now be sent to the principal office of the district in which they were posted ; sorted there ; and distributed from that office acco^'ding 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 Poat-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.* An im- portant part of the new scheme was, that London should be considered in the principal provincial post-offices as ten different towns, each with its own centre of operations, and that the letters should be assorted and despatched on this principle. Country letters would be delivered straightway — without any intermediate sorting — to that particular part of London for which they were destined ; whilst the sorters there having the necessary local knowledge, would dis- tribute 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 * So late as the year 1843, a letter posted at any London receiving- house after two in the afternoon was not delivered at Islington until the next morning. — Postmaster-General's Second Report. 172 Her Majesty's Mails. termini, the letters would not be sent as formerly to the General Post-Office, but direct to each district office, in bags prepared in the course of the journey.- It was a long time before this new and important plan was thoroughly carried out in all its details ; but now that it is in working order, the result is very marked in the earlier delivery of letters, and in the time and labour saved in the various processes. In fact, all the anticipated benefits have flowed from the adoption of the measure. In the same year a reduction was made in the rates for book-packets. The arrangement made at this time, which exists at present, charges one penny for every four ounces of printed matter; a book weighing one pound being charged fourpence. A condition annexed was, that every such packet should be open at the ends or sides, and if closed against inspection, should be liable to be charged at the unpaid letter rate of postage. This penalty was soon found to be unreasonably heavy and vexatious, and was therefore reduced to an additional charge of sixpence only. At the present time, the conditions under which such packets may be sent through the post are the same, but the fines in- flicted 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 two- pence 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 Expense of Railway Conveyance. 173 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, resultmg not only in a considerable reduction of postage on letters passing between the two countries, but in the lowering of the rate to all European countries, letters for which weiit by way of France. An attempt was made to arrange a postal con- vention with the United States during the year 1857, but like so many previous ones, it came to nothing. The Duke of Argyll is also favourably remembered in the metropolitan offices, for having granted — to the major establishment at any rate — the boon of a Saturday half- holiday. But perhaps his Grace laboured most arduously to bring about a more satisfactory relation between the railway companies and the Post-Office. Since the advent of cheap postage, nothing had so much impeded the progressive development of the Post-Office, as the adverse attitude of the companies who must convey the mails, now that all other modes of conveyance had been virtually superseded by the power of steam. Although the Postmaster-General failed in this instance, he is none the less entitled to the gratitude of the country for his well-meant attempt to repair the mistake which the Executive originally made in not carefully providing for the public service. Few could say that the existing law was, and is, not defective. The gain to the Post-Office through railways is certainly enormous : 174 H^^ Majesty's Mails. besides the advantage of increased speed, they make it possible to get through the sorting and the carrying of the mails at the same time. But here the gain ends ; and the cost for the service really done is heavy beyond all propor- tion. The cost of carrying mails by coaches averaged twopence farthing a mile ; the average cost under railways is tenpence a mile, some railways charging nearly five shillings per mile for the service they render. The cost of running a train may be reckoned, in most cases, at fifteen pence per mile ; and thus the Post-Office, for the use of a fraction of a train, may be said constantly to be paying at the rate of from sixty to three hundred per cent, in excess of the whole cost of running ! The Postmaster-General stated that the terms upon which one railway company would undertake postal service was totally disproportionate to those of a neighbouring company. On the other hand, all the companies were alike dissatisfied, however dissimilar the contracts, or the terms imposed and agreed to.* More- over, it was declared next to impossible to secure regularity and punctuality in the conveyance of mails, and to agree to amicable arbitration for the services which were done, until the Legislature should lay do^vn reasonable laws, binding all the companies alike. A Bill was introduced into the House of Lords regulating the arrangements between the Post-Office and the different companies. Though it was carefully prepared, it was strongly opposed by the railway interest in Parliament. The opposition was all the more unreasonable, inasmuch as many of its clauses sought to remove objections to the existing law which railway com- panies had frequently complained of As far as the Post- Office was concerned, it seems to have been the extent of the wish of the authorities that the question of remuneration * See Address by the late Mr. Robert Stephenson on his election to the Presidency of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1855, given in the Appendix to the larger edition of Mr. Smiles' Life of George Stephenson, and also a reply to it from the Inspector-General of Mails. — Postmaster-General's Second Report, pp. 45-55. Compulsory Prepayment of Letters. 175 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 * The Bill also provided for the more extensive employment of ordinary passenger trains, — not, however, to the supercession of the regular mail-trains — for the exclusive employment of certain trains for postal purposes, for penalties, &c. The measure had been brought in late in the session, and was eventually withdrawn. The Bill itself, with its twenty-one clauses, forms part of the Appendix to the Postmaster-General's fourth report ; and as the basis of arrangements between the two interests is still unsettled and uncertain, the Duke of Argyll there commends it to the careful attention of the public, as well as to the fair consideration of the railway authorities themselves. In 1858, on the accession of Lord Derby to power. Lord Colchester was appointed to the Post-Office without a seat in the Cabinet. Improvements continued during his short administration, both as regards inland, foreign, and colonial postages ; but nothing calls for special mention here except an attempt on the part of the Post-Office to render the payment of inland letters compulsory. The plan cannot be said to have had a fair trial. Its benefits and advan- tages were not clearly apparent, except to those who were acquainted with the machinery of the Post-Office. While, without doubt, the principles upon which it was based were sound, the objections to the arrangement lay on the surface, and were such as could not be overcome except by the exercise of great patience on the part of the public : the measure pressed heavily on certain interests : a great portion of the less thoughtful organs of the public press manifested considerable repugnance to it, and, in con- sequence, the Postmaster-General was led to recommend * Appendix to Postmaster-General's Second Report, p. 6 1 . 1 76 Her Majesty's Mails. to the Treasury the withdrawal of the order after the expiration of a few weeks of partial trial. As pointed out by Mr. Hill at the time, compulsory prepayment of letters was a part of the original plan of penny postage ; it was one of the recommendations which he made having for their object the simplification of accounts, and the more speedy delivery of letters. The Secretary of the Post-Office in urging a fair trial of the measure,* argued that after the lapse of a few months it would be productive of good even to letter-writers, not to speak of the saving of time, trouble, and expense to the Department. He very truly added that there were no difficulties attributable to the new rule which might not be surmounted by a little care or ingenuity. As it was, the public preferred an immediate termination of the experiment to the possible and problematical advantages that might arise from its continuance ; and in this instance the country was indulged by an early return to the old plan. In the following year, Lord Colchester was succeeded by the late Earl of Elgin as Postmaster-General, with a seat in Lord Palmerston's Cabinet. When Lord Elgin was sent on the special mission to the East in i860, the Duke of Argyll held the joint offices of Lord Privy Seal and Postmaster- General until a permanent successor was appointed in the person of Lord Stanley of Alderley, who now (March, 1864) holds the office. In 1859, the Money-order Office in London, and the money-order system generally, were remodelled. By a pro- cess meant to simplify the accounts, and other judicious alterations, a saving of 4,000/. 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/. instead of 5/. The money-order system was likewise extended to the colonies, the first con- nexion of the kind having been opened with Canada and our European possessions of Gibraltar and Malta. It has * Fifth Report, Appendix, pp. 43-8. England and the United States. 177 subsequently been extended to the principal British colo- nies, including the whole of Australia. Important improvements were also made in the depart- ment charged with the transmission of mails. Several accelerations — in one case a most important one — were made in the speed of the principal mail-trains ; the number of travelling post-offices was increased ; the construction of the whole of them was improved ; and the apparatus- machinery, attached to the carriages for the exchange of mail-bags at those stations where the mail-trains do not stop, was called more and more into requisition. Under the Earl of Elgin, the British Post-Office endea- voured to form conventions with foreign countries, the object in all cases being the increase of postal facilities. In the case of Spain and Portugal, the authorities seem to have been successful, and partially so with the German Postal Union. An attempt to renew negotiations with the United States calls for mention here. The advocates of ocean penny postage (of which so much was heard some years previously — not only a desirable, but a practicable scheme) may thus obtain some idea of the difficulty of coming to any reasonable arrangement between the two countries. We have already stated that a former Post- master-General urged upon the Government of the United States the necessity of reduction in the rates of postage of letters circulating from one country to the other, but was unsuccessful at the time.* In 1859, the Postmaster-General * During tlie progress of one of these negotiations the following memorandum, written by Mr. Bancroft, American Minister, is so characteristic of his people that we are tempted to amuse our readers with its reproduction entire. — Postmaster-General's First Report, Ap- pendix, 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 versd. Our security is, that we pay what your people pay from the same place for the same benefit, and vice versd." N 1^8 Her Majesty s Mails. 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 pro- vided 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 equit- able. 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, con- veyance,* and delivery must be taken into account), or the sea service (undoubtedly better worked and regulated with us than in America), this country had a fair claim to a larger share of postage than the United States. As, however, an unrestricted intercourse between the two countries was far more important than a nice adjustment in the revision of the postage, the English Postmaster-General would only press for equality, and proposed the following division : — British Inland Postage i the Post-Office operations when the stamp is otherwise placed ; and in cases which occasionally occur, where the stamp is placed at the back of the letter, it fre- quently happens that it is sent away charged with the unpaid postage. 12. The penny receipt-stamp will not, under any circum- stances, serve the purpose of the penny postage-stamp, though many people would seem to think differently ; all letters bearing a receipt-stamp are, of course, charged as if unpaid. The two kinds of stamp might easily be assimi- lated, and there are rumours that this may soon be done ; but they have their distinct duties at present, and the one cannot take the place of the other. 13. The Post-Office stamped envelopes (which may be obtained singly, in part packets, or entire packets, of two or three sizes, and embossed with either penny or twopenny stamps) are in every way the most secure ; and if the paper were of better quality, would be quite as economical, as if the ordinary envelope and the ordinary stamp were used. All risk of the stamps becoming detached is, of course, avoided by the use of stamped envelopes. 14. In place of affixing penny postage-stamps according to the weight of a letter, however heavy it may be, applica- tion might be made for twopenny, fourpenny, sixpenny, or shining labels, as the case may be. 15. In affixing stamps, care should be had lest by excess of moisture all the gum be washed off.* The practice of * It is calculated that every year nearly fifty thousand postage-stamps 284 Her Majesty's Mails. dipping the stamp in water is objectionable, except some absorbent be used immediately to remove any unnecessary moisture. It will be found to be a good plan to wet slightly the gummed side of the stamp, and also the right-hand comer of the envelope, and then to keep the finger gently on the stamp until it is firmly fixed. Highly glazed en- velopes should be avoided. 16. Liters about which any doubt exists should be care- fully weighed before posting. If the Post-Oflice weight be exceeded to the smallest extent, even to the turning of the scale, a letter becomes liable to, and is charged higher postage — viz. the difference in double or unpaid postage. So trained has the post-office clerk become of late years by a recent system of surcharges, that few letters can now pass with an insufficient number of stamps affixed. To provide against errors in scales, &c. it would be well in all cases to allow a little margin, or ask that the letter be weighed in the post-office scales. In the case of newspapers and book-packets, the same remarks, as well as the same arrangements, apply. It should be particularly remembered that a newspaper when posted, say wet from the printing-office, will often weigh more than it does on delivery ; hence surcharges for which the receiver sometimes cannot account. 17. In posting letters, care should be taken to see that they fall into the box, and do not stick in the passage. The pillar-boxes of our towns, whatever may be said to the con- trary, are completely safe as a rule, though the same care should be exercised in depositing the letters.* rub off letters and newspapers in their passage through the Post-Office. At one time the quality of the adhesive matter was called in question, loud complaint, even ridicule, settling on the theme. Now, however, that the gum is better the number of stamps which "will not stick" is scarcely perceptibly smaller. * Only one instance is on record of any violent and wilful attempt to damage a pillar letter-box. This is the more wonderful as the tempta- tion to lift the lid and contribute articles not contemplated by our postage-system must naturally be strong in the eyes of our City Arabs. Early Posting of Letters. 285 18. The earlier a letter is posted the better in all cases : towards the time for the closing of the letter-box, great haste is indispensablynecessaryin the manipulations which a town's correspondence must undergo, whilst earlier on it gets care- fully disposed of in proper box and bag. When letters or newspapers are posted in great numbers, as in the case of circulars, they should be posted as early as practicable, and should be tied up in bundles with the addresses all in one direction, or they may be delayed in the press of work.* 19. Every letter of consequence put into the post should contain the name of the sender and also his address, in order that, if it cannot be delivered as addressed, it may be promptly returned to the writer. 20. All business letters, at any rate, might have the sender's name and address embossed on the back of the envelope. On failure to deliver such letters, they would then be returned to the writers without being opened. Care should be taken, however, not to use envelopes with another person's name embossed in this way, as the letter will be forwarded back to the address thus given, though it should not happen to be the sender's own. 21. Coin is prohibited to be sent in ordinary letters passing between one part of the United Kingdom and A singular accident befel one of these letter-boxes (1862) in Montrose. A quantity of gas from the street pipes seems to have got into the box, and a night-watchman to have ignited it by striking a match on the top in order to light his pipe. The top vizs blown off and the pillar-box hopelessly damaged, although the watchman and the letters escaped without injury. * The following announcement from the postmaster of Manchester, as given in a bill dated 1721, contrasts strangely with the latitude allowed now. " The post goes out to London," says he, "on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, at nine o'clock in the morning. It will be best to bring the letters the night before the going out of the post, because the accounts and baggs are usually made up over-night.'''' In these days, when we may post up to within five minutes of the despatch of a mail, and letters for America may be posted within ten minutes of the sailing of the packet, we cannot be too thankful for our privileges. 286 Her Majesty's Mails. another.* If a letter be posted containing coin, it will be registered and charged a double registration fee. Coins or any other articles of value, if properly secured, will be certain of careful treatment under the registration system.f 2 2. Letters meant to be registered must never be drop- ped into the letter-box as in the case of ordinary letters, but should be given to the clerk in charge of the post-office counter or window to be dealt with, who will in each case give his receipt for it. The receipt is the sender's evidence thart it has been posted in proper course. 23. Letters containing sharp instruments, liquids, &c. or any other articles which would be likely of themselves, or if they should escape, to do injury to the other contents of the mail-bag, should never be posted. Postmasters have in- structions not to forward such letters according to their address, but, when observed, to send them to the Dead- Letter Office, from which place they will be returned to the writers. Valuable letters of this forbidden kind, therefore, run great risks of delay, while the articles are liable to be destroyed in their passage through the post. % * This arrangement does not apply to foreign letters coining to or going out of this country. t The number of registered letters last year was over two millions, or one registered letter to about three hundred ordinary letters. X Most of our readers will have heard or read stories of curious articles passing through the post, and without doubt the records of the Returned-Letter Branch of the London Office will present strange appearances in this respect. Sir Francis B. Head, who was permitted to peruse an extraordinary ledger in the General Post-Office where several notable letters and packets were registered, has strung together a catalogue of them, which reminds us of the articles passing through the post before the revocation of the franking privilege. He tells us he found amongst the number — two canaries ; a pork-pie from Devon- port to London ; a pair of piebald mice, which were kept at the office a month, and duly fed till they were called for by the owner- two rabbits ; plum-pudding ; leeches in bladders, " several of which having burst, many of the poor creatures were found crawling over the cor- respondence of the country." Further, there was a bottle of cream from Devonshire ; a pottle of strawberries ; a sample bottle of cider • half a pound of soft soap wrapped in thin paper ; a roast duck ; a The Newspaper Stamp. 287 24. Though the transmission of coin in letters is now absolutely forbidden, except under the registration scheme, arrangements are made for rendering it easy to send small sums by post in postage-stamps. When presented at any of the numerous money-order offices in the United King- dom, they may be exchanged for money, at a charge of 24 per cent. Any person wishful to send through the post a sum of money under five or six shillings will find it cheaper to buy stamps and enclose them, in place of a post-office order. One penny will be charged for buying forty stamps, a halfpenny for twenty stamps. 60,000/. worth of postage- stamps were bought from the public during the year 1862. 25. In sending postage-stamps in letters, care should be taken to use thick envelopes, so that enclosures of this kind may neither be seen nor felt. It is easy to feel a quantity of postage-stamps in a letter sent in a thin and crisp en- velope, and some official becoming aware of this may not be able to resist the temptation to appropriate them. 26. No enclosures whatever should be sent in news- papers impressed with the regular newspaper-stamp. Even an old address of such a newspaper should be carefully cut out. It is not enough that it be obliterated with the pen, as the rules forbid writing of any kind in addition to the mere address.* pistol, loaded almost to the mouth with slugs and ball ; a live snake ; a paper of fish-hooks ; fish innumerable ; and last of all, and most extraordinary of all, a human heart and stomach. — Head's Essays. * The aimual return just published (February, 1 864) shows to some extent how far the public prefers the stamped newspaper, which can be sent through the Post-Oifice, in fact, until it is fifteen days old. The number of stamps issued to the principal London newspapers from June, 1862, to June, 1863, are as follows : — Times, 2,782,306; Express, 261,038; Morning Post, 260,000; Daily News, 124,888; Morning Herald, 103,256; Globe, 140,000; Shipping Gazette, 261,000; Evening Standard, 80,020; Evening Star, 75,000; Evening Mail {thrice a week), took 345,000; St. James's Chronicle, 89,000 ; Record, 423,500 ; The Guardian (weekly), 219,300 ; The Illustratld London News, 1,136,062; Punch, 129,500. Eleven 288 Her Majesty's Mails. With newspapers stamped by the ordinary postage-label the arrangements are quite different. Any printed paper or manuscript may be folded up with the newspaper on which an ordinary penny-stamp is placed, provided the total amount of the package does not exceed four ounces. The old address (supposing the newspaper has circulated through the post before) may be left on or not at the discretion of the sender, as this does not interfere with the regulation that nothing in the packet shall be of the nature of a letter. On the other hand, any sentence or message written in ink or pencil on any part of the paper makes the packet liable to the unpaid letter-rate of postage. 27. When any letter, book-packet, or newspaper is lost, miscarried, or delayed, inquiry should be made as soon as evidence has been obtained that the article in question was really posted. The postmaster of the town should be in- formed by the complainant of every particular relating to the missing letter, &c. the day and hour of its posting, the office at which and the person by whom this was done. In cases of delay or mis-sending, the covers ought to be pro- duced in order that the office stamps on them may indicate the exact place where the delay has been occasioned. Correspondence on the subject of the complaints will sub- sequently be carried on between the applicant and the Secretary's department in England, Scotland, or Ireland, as the case may be. 28. When any one has reason to believe that he has paid extra postage on a letter or packet improperly, or has been charged more than the case would warrant, he should apply to his postmaster, who will bring the case before the notice of the Secretary, when, if any mistake has been made, the money will be refunded by order. Postmasters cannot return postage paid improperly until instructed to do so from the chief offices. English country newspapers took 100,000 each, the principal being the Sussex Express, 336,000, and the Stamford Mercury, 334,276. Thirty country newspapers bought more than 50,000 stamps. Suggestions concerning Money- Orders. 289 29. When an unpaid letter is presented to a person who has not the means at disposal of paying the demand upon it (some foreign or colonial letter may be taxed heavily), it will be kept at the post-office a month, if a request be made to that effect^ in order that efforts may be made to obtain the necessary money to release it. 30. Postmasters and their clerks are forbidden to be parties to the deceptions which used to be practised, and which are now sometimes attempted, as to the place of posting of a letter. If any communication should be for- warded, under cover, to the postmaster of a provincial town, with a request that it may be posted at his office, it will be sent to the Returned-Letter Branch in London, and from thence to the writer. 31. Advertisements are occasionally seen, and applica- tions frequently made, for defaced postage-stamps. It is stated, in some cases, that a given number will gain certain individuals admission to different charitable institutions. Whatever may be the purpose for which the old stamps are required, the Post-Office authorities have found, by inquiry, that the ostensible reason here given has uniformly been false. It is sometimes feared that attempts are made to clean and re-issue them, though this can be attended with but partial success. It is much more probable that they are sought to indulge some whim, such as papering boxes or even rooms. 32. With reference to money-orders, the public should be careful — (a) Always to give particulars of any order required in writing. When a number of orders are required, to write out a full list of them. Forms for single orders may be had gratuitously at all money-order offices. These forms, or other written papers, are invariably kept on files for a given time, so that reference may easily be made to them in the event of any mistake. Mistakes may, of course, be made either by the applicant or the clerk on duty. If, on production of the paper, the error is seen to have been the u 290 Her Majesty's Mails. sender's, he must pay (generally a second commission) for the necessary alterations : if, however, it be proved to be caused by the clerk issuing the order, the Post-Office calls upon the latter to bear the expense himself. ib) Never to present an order for payment on the day on which it is issued, nor, on the other hand, to allow two months to elapse before calling for payment.* {c) When sending an order, either to send it to its desti- nation singly, or in a letter signed only by initials. Money- orders passing between friends need not be accompanied with information such as is sometimes required in business transactions. * Many orders are never claimed at all. In Ireland twice as many- orders are allowed to "lapse" as in England or Scotland, though there are many more orders granted in the two latter countries than in Ireland. Perhaps the fact may be accounted for by the wretched addresses of most Irish letters, which make it impossible to deliver many of them and equally impossible to return them to the writers. Of ordinary money-orders, one in 837 are unclaimed within two months ; whilst as a curious fact, instancing the pertinacity of a careless habit, it may be stated that when these very orders have been renewed on payment of a second commission, one in every thirty-nine are again overlooked, and allowed to lapse, many of them, in fact, becoming entirely cancelled, and the money forfeited. 291 CHAPTER VII. CONCERNING SOME OF THE POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS AND MIS- REPRESENTATIONS TO WHICH THE POST-OFFICE IS LIABLE. The Post-Office, from its peculiar organization and tlie nature of its business, is liable to many misconceptions from which the other great Government Departments are more or less free. In one of the reports of the Postmaster- General, many of these misunderstandings are recounted and answered with an evident endeavour to bring about a better feeling between the people and the people's Post- Office. We cannot do better than refer here .to a few of the instances given, supplementing them by more which have been suggested to us from that consideration of the entire economy of the Post-Ofifice, into which we have been led in dealing with our subject. I. Unquestionably, the Post-Office is blamed for many errors and shortcomings which ought never to have been charged against it. On this important point, the evidence given by each Post-Office Report is remarkably clear, although, by the way, a writer in a recent number of a highly respectable quarterly review regards the instances given by successive Postmaster-Generals as so many " testi- monials to character,'' reminding him — so he scurvily added — of nothing so much as " the testimonials given by dys- , peptic noblemen in favour of the Revalenta Arabica or Holloway's Pills and Ointment."* Of course, much trouble * In this category we suppose the reviewer placed the following letter addressed to the Secretary of the Post-Ofiice, from Lord Cranworth U 2 292 Her Majesty's Mails. and many losses must, from time to time and at all times, have been caused by the carelessness or dishonesty of some of many thousand officials of the Post-Office, though the cases are far from few, and the authorities, in which it has been shown, to the satisfaction even of the complainant, that the fault at first attributed to the Post-Office rested really in other quarters. Some examples are afforded. The pubUsher of one of the London papers complained of the repeated loss in the Post-Office of copies of his journal, addressed to persons abroad. An investigation showed that the abstraction was made by the publisher's clerk, his object apparently being to appropriate the stamps required to defray the foreign postage. In another case, a general complaint having arisen as to the loss of newspapers sent to the chief office in St. Martin' s-le-Grand, the investigation led to the discovery of a regular mart held near the office, which was supplied with newspapers by the private mes- sengers employed to convey them to the post. Again : A man was detected once in robbing a newsvendor's cart when Lord Chancellor. We adduce it here, on the contrary, as a specimen of a handsome and manly apology : " Sir, — Complaints were made early last month, that a letter posted by Mr. Anderson, of Lincoln's Inn, and addressed to me, had never reached its destination. . . . You caused inquiry to be made. ... I feel it a duty to you, Sir, and the Post-Office authorities, to say that I have just found the missing letter, which has been accidentally buried under a heap of other papers. I have orJy tn regret the trouble frhich my oversight thus caused, and to take the earliest opportunity of absolving all persons, except myself, of blame in the matter. I have, &c. &c. Cranworth." Somevifhat similar to the above case, occurring only last year, we may refer to the circumstance, probably in the memory of most of our readers, when, among a batch of complainants whose letters The Times admitted to its columns, was one from the late Mr. John Gough Nicholls, the eminent littirattur, who grieved bitterly that a letter sent through the post to him had not arrived at his address. From a manly apology which he made to the Post-Office authorities a few days after- wards, also given in The Times, it appeared that the reason why he never received the letter was, that it had not been sent through the Post-Office, as it ought to have been, but was delivered by a private messenger at another house in the street. The Fast- Office not always to blame for Errors. 293 by volunteering, on its arrival at the entrance of the General Post-OfRce, to assist the driver in posting the newspapers. Instead of doing so, however, he walked through the hall with those intrusted to him, and, upon his being stopped, three quires of a weekly paper were found in his possession. To these cases of newspapers let us add a few concerning letters, the substance of which are adduced in subsequent reports. Thus, a letter containing a cheque for 12/. and sent to a London firm, was said not to have reached its destination ; the Post-Office was blamed for not delivering it ; inspectors were set to work, and after a diligen't search, it was traced from the premises of the person to whom it was addressed to those of a papier-mach^ manufacturer, where it doubtless had been pulped into tea-trays or writing- cases. Again : A bank agent sends his son to the post with a letter, which on his journey he opens. Spying a figured cheque, he abstracts it, and posts the letter without it, and it is afterwards found ornamenting his copy-book ! Another bank agent sends his youthful son to the post-office to receive for him his letters, one of which, containing some very valuable inclosures, he leaves in his pocket, and ' im- mediately afterwards leaves town for school, carrying with him the precious missive — worth some 1,500/. — where it consorts with his marbles, Everton toffy, and cold Bologna sausage, till the vacation, the lad all the time being in blissful unconsciousness of the stir paterfamilias was making about it. Another person complained that several of his letters were not forthcoming. This case was a mystery. At length it struck one of the shrewd officials — who grow shrewd through dint of unravelling the most curious cases — that the letter-box at the person's door ought to be care- fully examined. This was done, and the box was found exceedingly defective. Fifteen letters were jammed between the box and the door, where some of them had quietly reposed for the space of nine years.* The secretary of a * We do not mention this latter circumstance, be it understood, 294 Her Majesty's Mails. charitable institution in London gave directions for posting a large number of " election papers," and supposed that his directions had been duly acted upon. Shortly, however, he received complaints of the non-receipt of many of the papers, and in other cases of delay. He at once lodged a strong complaint at the Post-Office ; but, on examination, circum- stances soon came to light which cast suspicion on the person employed to post the notices, although this man had been many years in the service of the society, and was supposed to be of strict integrity. Ultimately, the man confessed that he embezzled the postage (3/. 15^'. (>d), and had endeavoured to deliver the election papers himself. Once more : A short time since a registered letter was said to have been posted at Newcastle, addressed to a banker in Edinburgh, who, not receiving it according to his expecta- tion, sent a telegraphic message to learn why it had not been forwarded. The banker supposed that the letter had been lost or purloined in the Post-Office ; but it was at last found to have been duly delivered to the bank porter in order to post it, but he had locked it up in his desk and forgotten it. 2. The knowledge of the following misconception may also help to save the public and the Post-Office a great amount of trouble. " It is often assumed," says the Post- master-General, "that a mail-conveyance passing by, or through a place, ought, as a matter of course, to deposit," there and then, " the letters directed thereto ; the practice being, on the contrary, that until the mail arrives at the head post-office of the district, the letters in question are not separated from the other letters of the district. A slight consideration of the nature and objects of the postal service will show that such separation cannot be effected in any other way, unless, indeed, the mail-conveyance, even sup- posing it to be but a mail-cart, were converted into a to discourage the use of slits or letter-boxes in private doors. An occurrence of the above kind must be exceedingly rare, whilst nothing so much helps the prompt delivery of letters as such an arrangement. Prevalent Misconceptions. 295 travelling post-office, and furnished with clerks of unlimited local knowledge (which is plainly impossible), or unless every town and village in the kingdom, having any corre- pondence with the place in question, were to make up a bag for that place ; in which case its mail would contain nearly as many bags as letters." 3. "It happens from time to time that, owing to the stream of postal communications having been diverted from the old mail-road to a line of railway, or from other causes of like nature, it becomes desirable to reduce the post-office of a town from the condition of a pri7icipal office to that of a jz/i^-office. This step not unfrequently gives rise to com- plaints, the inhabitants being under the impression that they will not in future be so well served. This is a mis- conception. The change is not made when it will subject the correspondence to delay ; nor does it cause any with- drawal of accommodation in respect to money-orders. It is, in fact, only a departmental arrangement, which consists in carrying on the sorting of the letters for the new sub-office at some intermediate office, instead of sending the letters in direct bags." 4. " Another misconception, which occasionally causes trouble and disappointment, consists in assuming that a discretionary power can be intrusted to subordinate officers to remit penalties or overcharges under special circum- stances. Cases will occur in which strict observance of a general rule may inflict more or less injustice upon indi- viduals, and where a dispensing power immediately at hand might furnish a remedy. In an establishment as large and as widely spread as the Post-Office, however, there will always be many subordinate officers, some of them carrying on their duties beyond the easy reach of any supervising authority, who are not fit depositaries of such a power, affecting, as it would to a great degree, the public revenue. It therefore becomes necessary to lay down definite and precise rules, from which no departure can be allowed, except under sanction of the Postmaster-General ; and in 296 Her Majesty's Mails. the few instances in which these rules press hardly, appeal must be made to the General Post-Office. It must be added, that in many instances even such appeal is neces- sarily fruitless, the Postmaster-General being bound to a particular course by positive law." 5. " In regard to the expense of railway conveyance, the public naturally supposes, that as such conveyance is cheap- est for ordinary purposes, and as the charges made for the carriage of mails are subject to arbitration, that it must be cheapest for postal purposes also ; and, indeed, so cheap, as to warrant the free use of the railways, either as substitutes for other conveyance, or for the multiplication of mails. The fact, however, is very different. Except in certain instances, where companies have entered into arrangements, securing to the Post-Office the use of their trains on mode- rate, though still highly remunerative terms, railway con- veyance, with all its acknowledged advantages, has proved much more expensive than that which it has superseded." We have already spoken at length of railways in relation to the Post-Office, and will not here add any further remark. 6. The English Postmaster-General is frequently supposed to have some control over colonial post-offices, and even those of foreign countries. Except at Gibraltar and Malta, however, he is quite powerless out of the United Kingdom. , 7. Frequent applications are made, it seems, for extra foreign and colonial mails, yet those existing are only kept up at a ruinous loss. Of the eight great lines of packet communication, only one pays its expenses and yields a profit. If the letters sent abroad were charged with the whole cost of the packets, the foreign agencies, and other incidental expenses, not only would all the sea-postage be swallowed up, but the mails would entail a loss of nearly four hundred thousand pounds a year. " We want," said a leading weekly commercial paper lately, " increased facilities for communication with our West Indian Colonies ; " yet every letter now forwarded to those colonial possessions of ours costs one shilhng over and above the postage English Office compared with Continental Post-Offices. 297 charged ! On each letter conveyed between this country and the Cape there is a dead loss of sixpence ; to the AVest Coast of Africa, one shilling and sixpence. Everybody has heard of the New Galway line of packets for America, now suspended for the second time : every letter carried by these packets under their first contract was charged one, and cost the country six shillings ; under the second attempt, each letter is said to have cost even more thaa six shillings ! With the change of system and change of management, described briefly in speaking of the packet service, there can be no question that this state of things will not be allowed to continue. The principle of requiring the colonies them- selves to pay a moiety of the cost of their service is a step in the right direction, and is, certainly, only just:* the colonies will not be taxed for the mother-country, as in one memorable instance in history, nor, as at present, will the mother-country be taxed unfairly for the colonies : there will then be equal interest in keeping down the expendi- ture, and in establishing rates of postage high enough to be remunerative. 8. The English Post-Office will compare favourably with that of any nation in the world. In no country are post- office privileges procured cheaper than with us. Like any other institution capable of endless growth, and which must grow and expand with the progressive influences of the * Perhaps, liowever, there is room to doubt whether the true reform will consist in anything less than the entire abolition of packet sub- sidies, and the offering of the contracts in the ordinary way of com- mercial transactions. An ocean penny-postage, e.g. penny sea-postage, would then be almost inevitable. A letter charged a penny the half- ounce would amount to nearly 300/. a ton, an enormous freightage it will be admitted, to the United States, being even fifteen times steam freight to India. Nor when the letters get across the sea would they be subject to heavy inland postage either in the one country or the other. In the United States letters are circulated for thousands of miles for three cents, while for half an anna, a sum equivalent to three farthings of English money, a letter may be forwarded through the length and breadth of British India. 298 Her Majesty's Mails. times, it clearly is not perfect in every arrangement ; but in answer to complaints of the hard, unyielding, and stringent rules which are said to bind the English Post-Office, it may not be out of place to institute a few comparisons, asking that some reference should be made to contemporary history. In England, coin was suffered for many years to pass in ordinary letters, to the temptation and seduction of many of the officers, and the practice grew from a thought- less economy, in spite of all the appeals that were made to the contrary. At present coin is not allowed to pass through the post-office, except in registered letters : in France it has long been, and is now, a penal offence to transmit coin in letters.* At the time Sir Rowland Hill was urging his * As another example, take the United States, with Mr. Anthony Trollope for a judge on postal concerns. In his North America, vol. ii. p. 368, we read : " It is, I think, undoubtedly true that the amount of accommodation given by the Post-Office of the States is small, as compared with that afforded in some other countries, and that that accommodation is lessened by delays and uncertainty. . . . Here in England, it is the object of our Post-Office to carry the bulk of our letters at night, to deliver them as early as possible in the morning, and to collect them and take them away for despatch as late as may be in the day ; so that the merchant may receive his letters before the beginning of his day's business, and despatch them after its close. In the States no such practice prevails. Letters arrive at any hour of the day miscellaneously, and were despatched at any hour. I found that the postmaster of one town could never tell me with certainty when letters would arrive at another. I ascertained, moreover, by painful experience that the whole of a mail would not always go forward by the first despatch. As regarded myself, this had reference chiefly to English letters and newspapers. ' Only a part of the mail has come,' the clerk would tell me. With us the owners of that part which did not come would consider themselves greatly aggrieved and make loud complaint. But, in the States, complaints made against official depart- ments are held to be of little moment." We are further told that the "letters are subject to great delays by irregularities on railways. They have no travelling post-offices in the States, as with us. And, worst of all, there is no official delivery of letters." "The United States' Post- Office," says Mr. Trollope, "does not assume to itself the duty of taking letters to the houses of those for whom they are intended, but holds itself as having completed the work for which the original The Profits of the Post-Office. 299 penny-postage scheme on the attention of the British Legis- lature, another European State (Piedmont, 1837) had the most stringent and severe regulations maintained in its Post- Office. The law punished any one posting a book or a newspaper opposed to the principles of the monarchy with from two to five years' hard labour ; any one who might receive of such newspapers or books through the post with- out having delivered it into the hands of the authorities with two years' imprisonment ; a reward of one hundred crowns was offered to any one giving information. These arbitrary and iniquitous laws are equalled and even surpassed, in European codes of' still later date — witness Russia and, until quite recently, Austria. 9. The opinion is frequently expressed in conversation, and we have often met with such expressions of opinion in our daily and weekly press, to the effect that the Post- Office ought to give more accommodation to the public in many ways, and so disburse some, if not all, of its enormous profits. These profits are said to be absurdly large ; that fifty per cent, is ten times the interest of money lent on decent security, and five times as much as would satisfy sanguine private speculators. This subject of Post-Office profits is made, de facto, the principal argument against what is called the Post-Office monopoly. We have already, in other parts of this book, offered an opinion on steps which might be taken in the way of affording extra facilities to the public. A cheaper sea service and a halfpenny post for our towns are two of the most important and most practicable measures. Granted that our packet service ought to be kept up as at present, postage has been paid when it has brought them to the window of the post-office of the town to which they are addressed." The recognised official mode of delivery is from the office window, many inhabitants paying for private boxes at the post-office. If delivered, a further sum must be paid the bearer. Surely English people have reason to be content with their privileges, and in a certain degree to "rest and be thankful. " 300 Her Majesty s Mails. we have an invincible argument for universal free deliveries at home. When asked * if he thought it necessary that our Colonies should have greater postal facilities than they could pay for, Mr. Hamilton, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, answered that "a colony might reasonably complain if it was deprived of advantages of postal communication, simply because that postal communication might not be remune- rative." Again, on the question of Post-Office revenue,t " I think the first charge upon that revenue is to supply reasonably all portions of Her Majesty's dominions with postal communication," which consideration, it seems to us, will apply equally at home and abroad. Still more im- portant seems the plan of a halfpenny post for local letters, that is, for letters posted and delivered in the same town. Before the days of penny postage, we had penny posts in all the principal towns of the country. A halfpenny post, if only applied to our largest towns, where it would be certain to be remunerative, J would have the effect of materially lessening the weight of the argument that our present rate of charges is anomalous and unfair. But this would be by no means the most important result. Such posts would necessitate more frequent deliveries in pro- vincial towns — the postmen to be paid accordingly as fully, and not as now, only partially, employed. On the other hand, it is quite clear that the Post-Office net revenue is a fair and honourable item on the credit side of the Govern- ment accounts, with which the public, except through their representatives in Parliament, have nothing whatever to do. The penny postage scheme was carried through Parliament in the confident expectation resolutely urged by the intrepid founder of that scheme, that all the benefits promised under it would result to the country, without any great relinquish- ment of Post-Office revenue, and that only for a term of * Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on Packet and Telegraph Contracts, p. 27. + Ibid. p. 34. % A halfpenny post is in full operation at the city of Quebec. Post- Office Officials. 301 years. Gradually, year by year, with enormous gain to the public convenience in innumerable ways, the revenue derivable from this branch of the service has risen beyond the highest standard of the past. Any relinquishment of the profits — which, by the way, staves off other taxes — depends on Parliament, and not on the Post-Office.* 10. Perhaps of all the prevalent misconceptions to which the public have been, and still are, liable, none is so un- * The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his place in Parliament, has just adverted (April) to the argument indicated above. ' ' If the Post- Office revenue be abandoned in whole, or in part, a gap will be created which will have to be supplied by direct taxation." That our postage rates may be regarded as a l). 335 Appointments in the Chief Office in London — continued. Nuittber Salary of Office. | Persons Designatioji: Minimum Annual Maximum per Annum. Increment. per A nnum. Money- Order Office. £ £ '■■ £ I Controller" .... SCO 25 750 I Chief Clerk ■- . ... 400 20 55° I Examiner* 375 15 " 45° I Book-keeper" .... 375 15 45° 13 First-class Clerks :— 4 First Section .... 365 IS 400 9 Second Section . 260 ID 350 52 Second-class Clerks . 180 7 10 240 SS Third-class Clerks . . . 80 5 150 6 Probationary Clerks Sj. per day Circulation Department. I Controller' .... 600 25 800 I Vice-ControUer" .... 500 20 600 3 Sub-Controllers .... 450 20 600 16 Deputy Controllers . . . 350 15 500 40 First-class Clerks* . . . 260 10 350 80 Second-class Clerks * . . 180 7 10 240 118 Third-class Clerks* . . . 80 5 150 7 First - class Inspectors of ' Letter-carriers ... 210 10 300 IS Second-class ditto . . 150 7 10 200 20 Third-class ditto . no S 145 2,356 Sorters, Messengers, &c. viz. — Sorters . . 100 ist Class 40^. a week. ii 12 50J-. a week. „ . . 450 2d Class 24r. „ i; 12 38.. „ Messengers. 20 ,, 2IJ-. ,, i: 12 40^-. „ Stampers . 60 1st Class 28j-. „ z 12 35^- „ ,, . . 199 2d Class 2IS. „ 2 12 21S. „ Letter-carriers 330 ist Class * 26s. „ 2 12 ios. „ ,, 962 2d Class* 20s. , , 2 12 2SS. „ Surveyors' Department, 13 Surveyors* .... 500 25 700 32 Surveyors' Clerks: — 13 First Class*. . . . 300 20 400 19 Second Class* . . . 200 10 300 13 Stationary Clerks . . . 80 5 150 The surveyors have travelling allowances at the rate of 20j'. per diem ; sur- veyors' clerks, i^s. per diem; clerks in charge, lOJ.and Js. per diem. The whole are also allowed actual expenses of locomotion. 336 Her Majesty s Mails. PRINCIPAL APPOINTMENTS IN THE CHIEF OFFICES OF DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH. (Extracted from the Estimates of 1864-5.) Number of Salary of Oj^ce. Designation. Minimum A nnual MaximuTn Persons. per Annum. Increment. per Annum. DUBLIN. £ £ -f- £ I Secretary . . 700 50 1,000 I Chief Clerk 500 20 600 2 First-class Clerks . . 300 15 400 4 Second-class Clerks 140 10 300 I Solicitor. . . ... — — 1,000 I Accountant* . . . . 500 20 600 I Examiner* 325 20 425 I Controller of Sorting OfEce 400 20 SCO 4 Deputy Controllers . . General Body of Clerks. 280 10 35° 13 First-class Clerks* . . . 200 10 300 39 Second-class Clerks . . . 125 7 10 180 14 Supplementary Clerks . 70 S 120 I Inspector of Letter-carriers 125 7 lo 200 I Medical Officer .... EDINBURGH. 200 I Secretary 700 50 1,000 I Chief Clerk 500 20 600 2 First-class Clerks . 300 15 400 3 Second-class Clerks . . . 140 10 300 I Solicitor — — 400 I Accountant* 500 20 600 I Examiner* 325 20 425 I Controller of Sorting OfBce 45° 20 55° 3 Deputy Controllers . . . 280 10 35° I Inspector of Letter-carriers 125 7 10 200 I Medical Officer . . General Body of Clerks. 150 12 First-class Clerks .... 200 10 300 30 Second-class Clerks . . . 125 7 10 180 9 Probationary Clerks, 5J. a day Appendix (Z>). 337 APPOINTMENTS, WITH SALARIES, OF THE FIVE PRINCIPAL PROVINCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. {Extracted from the Estimates of 1864-5.) Number Poundage allowed.^ Salary of Office. of Persons. Destgnaiion. Minimjim Annual Maxzmu?n per Annum. Increment. per Annum. Liverpool Office. £ £ £ ■!■■ d. £ I Postmaster . . . 730 1,000 I 2 Chief Clerk . . . Principal Clerks 400 200 20 10 500 300 f Controller of ) X Sorting Office ) I — 300 10 400 f Assistant Con- ' I troUers . . .' s — 200 S 250 I f Inspector of Let- '^ \ ter-carriers . ) — 125 7 10 200 2 Assistant Inspectors 80 5 120 8 First-class Clerks . 150 5 4 3 2 12 200 16 Second-class Clerks 100 140 100 IS Third-class Clerks . 60 23 First-class Sorters . ■Xls. aweek. 35J-. aweek. 23 Second-class Sorters 26s. „ 2 12 3°^- „ 2SS. „ 21S. ,, 46 Third-class Sorters . 22J-. , , I 6 93 Fourth-class Sorters 1%S. „ 1 6 C Allowance to a ) I Medical Officer ) — 90/. a-year. Manchester Office. I Postmaster . . . 790 _ 700 I Chief Clerk . . . — 45° S Principal Clerks . — 200 7 10 250 5 First-class Clerks . — 150 5 200 10 Second-class Clerks — 100 5 150 Medical Officer . . — 80 I C Inspector of Let- \ (. ter-carriers . ) — 150 7 10 200 2 Assistant ditto . . Sorting Clerks : — — 80 S 120 20 First-class . . . — 3 1 J. aweek. 3 18 38^-. aweek. 37 Second-class . . — 21s. „ 2 12 3°^- .. 116 Letter Carriers . . — iSs. „ I 6 23s. „ * On the sale of postage-stamps. z 338 Her Majesty s Mails. Appointments, with Salaries, of the Five Principal Provincial Establishments in England and Scotland — Contintced. Salary of Office. \ Number P "^ Designation. Poundage allowed. 1 MinitmiTn Annual Maximujn ^er Anmim. Increment. per Annum. f Glasgow Office. £ £ £ s. d. £ I Postmaster . ■ Controller of ■) 1. Sorting Office ) 673 700 I — 200 10 300 5 First-class Clerks — 150 5 200 5 Second-class Clerks — 100 4 140 lO f Supplementary > I Clerks . .\ — 60 3 100 I f Inspector of Let- \ \ ter-carriers . 3 ( Assistant In- -v — 125 80 7 10 200 2 ) spectorsofLet- L — 5 120 (, ter-carriers . j 10 First-class Sorters — 31/. aweek. 2 12 35j. aweek. 24 Second-class Sorters — 26J-. „ 2 12 30J. ,, 29 Third-class Sorters — 22J-. ,, I 6 25J'. ,, 66 Fourth-class Sorters — i8x. „ I 6 2IJ-. ,, 97 f Auxiliary Letter- ' ; \ carriers. . . ) Allowance to ■) Medical Officer 3 — — — 6.. „ ^ 90 Birmitigham Office. I Postmaster . . 500 __ 700 3 Chief Clerks . . 150 5 230 2 Clerks .... — 150 5 200 12 Ditto .... — 60 5 ° 140 I f Inspector of Let- 7 (. ter-carriers . 3 /•Assistant In- 1 — 125 7 10 180 I i. spector of Let- V \ ter-carriers . J — 80 5 120 25 Sorters. . . . — 2 1 J. a week 2 10 35^. aweek. 20 C Third-class Let- 7 l ter-carriers . 3 — 22s. „ I 6 25^- „ 48 ( Fourth-class Let- ■) (. ter-carriers . j — 18.. „ I 6 2IJ-. „ 6 ■Temporary Let- 7 ter-carriers . 3 — — — 1%S. „ 5 Auxiliaries — lOs.dd, I Medical Officer . — — — 60/. a year. Appendix (Z>). 339 Appointments, with Salaries, of the Five Principal Provincial Establishments in England and Scotland, &c. — Continued. y Salary ofOjffici Nuinber Perim Designations. Poundage allowed. Minimum A 7imtal Maxijnum per An7mm. Increase. per Annum. Bristol Office. £ £ £ s. d. £ I Postmaster . . 325 600 I Chief Clerk 200 10 300 2 First-class Clerks — 150 500 200 7 Second-class Clerks — 100 400 140 8 f Supplementary \ X Clerks ... 3 — 60 300 100 I \ Inspector of Let- 1 ter-Carriers . — no 500 140 9 First-class Sorters. — 27J. a week 2 12 33J-. a week. 12 Second-class Sorters — 23^. „ 160 26j-. „ lO Third-class Sorters — 19-f- ,, 160 22^. „ 24 Fourth-class Sorters — 16.. „ I 6 i8j. „ 28 Auxiliaries . . — — los.dd. „ I Medical Officer . — — 50/. a year. Z 2 34° Her Majesty's Mails. INFORMATION RESPECTING OTHER PRINCIPAL PROVINCIAL POST OFFICES. Name of Town. Salary of Post- Potindage Siaffof Clerks. Other Su- bordinate Total Expenses of Establisktnen t master. U't'tL' Ui'l'Uo Officers. for 1864-5. £ £ £ Bath 45° 15s 7 80 4,997 Brighton .... 500 210 8 36 3,357 Birkenhead . . . 350 74 6 30 2,652 CarUsle .... 300 68 6 45 3,138 Derby 300 no S 42 3,449 Exeter 500 145 13 104 6,18s Gloucester . . . 300 72 6 29 2,404 Hull 450 200 15 63 4,887 Leeds 450 280 12 86 7,26s Newcastle-on-Tyne . 450 240 9 54 4,318 Norwich .... 380 118 6 68 4,453 Oxford 331 72 8 23 2,362 Plymouth .... 332 105 6 37 2,648 Portsmouth . . . 360 118 5 23 2,104 Preston .... 300 105 6 43 2,995 Sheffield .... 400 215 17 57 4,708 Shrewsbury . . . 400 95 8 68 4,830 Southampton . . . 450 160 8 52 4,415 Worcester .... 320 70 7 40 2,514 York 400 125 II 70 5,059 Belfast 340 116 6 47 3,407 Cork 340 105 6 39 2,719 Aberdeen . . . 400 146 10 55 3,545 Dundee .... 230 109 S 30 2,038 Greenock .... 300 100 7 40 2,692 341 APPENDIX (E). Amount of Postage (including Postage- Stamps sold by the Post-Office and by the OfSce of Inland Revenue) during the years 1861 and 1862 at those Towns in the United Kingdom where the amount was largest. ENGLAND. Bath Birmingham .... Bradford, Yorkshire . Brighton Bristol Cheltenham .... Exeter Hull Leeds . . ... Leicester . . . Liverpool .... London Manchester .... Newcastle-on-Tyne Norwich Nottingham .... Plymouth .... Sheffield Southampton . . York IRELAND. Belfast Cork Dublin SCOTLAND. Aberdeen .... Edinburgh . . Glasgow 1861 1862 £ £. 17,795 18,433 48,818 50,272 17,098 19,640 21,945 22,579 33,86s 35,720 ",834 12,315 16,334 16,739 20,561 20,819 30,641 32,736 10,420 11,238 115,268 117,676 979,662* 1,033, 268t 102,263 98,650 24,844 25,998 12,740 12,997 12,237 13,376 11,520 ",493 20,364 21,188 15,182 15,852 13,368 13,850 18,431 19,189 13,418 13,568 67,458 65,199 15,283 16,326 73,863 74,569 70,476 73,809 * Including ;^i63,837 for postage charged on Public Departments, t Including;^ 1 49, 202 ,, ,, 342 APPENDIX (F). CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY RAILWAY. [Estimates 1863-4). Conveyance of Mails by Railway Amount required in England and Waies^ viz. : — for 1864-5. __ By the Birkenhead Railway 2, 500 Bristol and Exeter . . 9,875 Chester and Holyhead . . . . .... 30,200 Cockermouth and Workington ... .... 104 Colne Valley ... 15 Cowes and Newport .... . .... 23 Cornwall 5, 500 Great Northern 9,877 Great Western . . .... 49,829 Great Eastern . . 21,367 Knighton I20 Lancaster and Carlisle . .... ... 18 206 Lancashire and Yorkshire 6, 900 Leominster and Kington 300 Llanelly ^o London, Brighton, and South Coast 1,890 London, Chatham, and Dover 04 London and North Western ....... . 82,416 London and South Western . . . . .21 620 Manchester and Altrincham . . 'go Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 2 600 Maryport and Carlisle g^l Midland ! 35,190 Monmouthshire qi London, Tilbuiy, and Southend \ 25 North Eastern . . ... ^q 177 North Staffordshire !!.''.! 712 North Union .... 4 878 Oystermouth ' ia Appendix {F). 343 Conveyance of Mails by Railway — continued. Conveyance of Mails by Railway A mount required in England and Wales, viz. \— for 1864-5. By the Oldham and Guide Bridge 20 Seaham and Sunderland . 70 Shrewsbury and Hereford ... . . . 2,031 Shrewsbury, Borth, &c . . 2,180 Shropshire Union Railway . . 2,085 South Devon ... 7,479 South Eastern . 23,635 South Staffordshire . 45 South Yorkshire ... 18 Stockton and Darlington .. 1,311 Taff Vale . . 1,000 Tenbury . 8 West Cornwall i,Soo West Hartlepool 17 Whitehaven Junction 364 Allowance for probable variation of Awards or Agree- ments 19,313 405,566 The Irish Railway Service (the principal recipients being the Great Southern and Western ;£^30,982, Mid- land and Great Western ;^ 15, 208, Belfast and Dublin Junction ^^5,917, Dublin and Drogheda, ;f4,48s) requires 86,833 The Scotch Railway Service (the principal items being the Caledonian ;^28,497, the Scottish Central ;^i3,o68, the Scottish North Eastern ;r^i2,ooo, and the Great North of Scotland ;^7,584) requires . . . 79,754 Total for conveyance of Mails by Railway ;^564, 102 344 APPENDIX (G). MANUFACTURE OF POSTAGE-LABELS AND ENVELOPES. (From the Estimates of 1864-5.) Number" of Persons, 24 41 Controller Assistant-Controller Assistant-Superintendent of Postage Stamp- ing Clerk Superintendent of Printing Label-stamps . ,, Perforating ,, Foreman of Embossing Machines, ifis. per week Packer, at 25^. per week Tellers, from \%s. to 30J. per week . . Assistant-Telling Boys, from 7j. to I2J. per week Boys for working Machines, from 4?. to \2.s. per week Allowance to the Accountant's Department for keeping the Accounts, to the Re- ceiver-General's and to the Warehouse- keeper's Departments Total Salaries, &c Poundage to Distributors and Sub-Distri- butors Paper for Labels and Envelopes, Printing and Gumming Labels, and Folding and Gumming Envelopes ...... Postage and Carriage of Parcels .... Tradesmen's Bills Miscellaneous Expenses Estimate of additional expenditure for in- crease of business Total amount required for the Manufacture of Postage-Labejs and Envelopes Atnouni required far 1864-5. £ 500 300 200 120 175 100 109 211 127 433 1,050 3.390 4,600 18,500 45° 400 500 nil. 27,840 345 APPENDIX (H). The following important document, published by Sir Rowland Hill on his resignation of the Secretaryship of the Post-Office, and circulated privately, is deserYing of careful study, as giving the results of the penny-postage reform up to the latest date : — RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM. Before stating the results of postal reform, it may be con- venient that I should briefly enumerate the more important organic improvements effected. They are as follows : — 1. A very large reduction in the rates of postage on all correspondence, whether inland, foreign, or colonial. As instances in point, it may be stated that letters are now conveyed from any part of the United Kingdom to any other part — even from the Channel Islands to the Shetland Isles — at one-fourth of the charge previously levied on letters passing between post towns only a few miles apart;* and that the rate formerly charged for this slight distance, viz. four- pence — now suffices to carry a letter from any part of the United Kingdom to any part of France, Algeria included. . 2. The adoption of charge by weight, which, by abolish- ing the charge for mere enclosures, in effect largely extended the reduction of rates. 3. Arrangements which have led to the almost universal resort to prepayment of correspondence, and that by means of stamps. 4. The simplification of the mechanism and accounts of the Department generally by the above and other means. 5. The establishment of the book-post (including in its operation all printed and much MS. matter) at very low rates, and its modified extension to our colonies and to many foreign countries. 6. Increased security in the transmission of valuable letters * When my plan was published, the lowest General Post rate was fourpence ; but while the plan was under the consideration of Govern- ment the rate between post towns not more than eight miles asunder was reduced from fourpence to twopence. 346 Her Majesty's Mails. afforded, and temptation to the letter-carriers and others greatly diminished, by reducing the registration fee from ij. to 4^., by making registration of letters containing coin compulsory, and by other means. 7. A reduction to about one-third in the cost — including postage — of money-orders, combined with a great extension and improvement of the system. 8. More frequent and more rapid Communication between the metropolis and the larger provincial towns, as also be- tween one provincial town and another. 9. A vast extension of the rural distribution — many thou- sands of places, and probably some millions of inhabitants, having, for the first time, been included within the postal system. 10. A great extension of free deliveries. Before the adoption of penny postage many considerable towns, and portions of nearly all the larger towns, had either no delivery at all, or deliveries on condition of an extra charge. 11. Greatly increased facilities afforded for the transmis- sion of foreign and colonial correspondence, by improved treaties with foreign countries, by a better arrangement Of the packet service, by sorting on board, and other means. 12. A more prompt despatch of letters when posted, and a more prompt delivery on arrival. 13. The division of London and its suburbs into ten postal districts, by which, and other measures, communica- tion within the twelve-miles circle has been greatly facilitated, and the most important delivery of the day has, generally speaking, been accelerated as much as two hours. 14. Concurrently with these improvements, the condition of the employes has been materially improved ; their labours, especially on the Sunday, having been very generally re- duced, their salaries increased, their chances of promotion augmented, and other important advantages afforded them. RESULTS. My pamphlet on " Post-Office Reform " was written in the year 1836. During the preceding twenty years, viz. from 1815 to 1835 inclusive, there was no increase whatever in the Post-Office revenue, whether gross or net, and therefore, in all probability, none in the number of letters ; and though there was a slight increase in the revenue, and doubtless in the number of letters, between 1835 and the establishment Appendix {IT). 347 of penny postage eatly in 1840 — an increase chiefly due, in my opinion, to the adoption of part of my plan, viz. the estabhshment of day mails to and from London — yet, during the whole period of twenty-four years immediately preceding the adoption of penny postage, the revenue, whether gross or net, and the number of letters, were, in effect, stationary. Contrast with this the rate of increase under the new system, which has been in operation during a period of about equal length. In the first year of penny postage the letters more than doubled ; and though since then the in- crease has, of course, been less rapid, yet it has been so steady that, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of trade, every year, without exception, has shown a considerable advance on the preceding year, and the first year's number is now nearly quadrupled. As regards revenue, there was, of ct)urse, at first a large falling off — about a million in gross, and still more in net revenue. Since then, however, the revenue, whether gross or net, has rapidly advanced, till now it even exceeds its former amount, the rate of increase, both of letters and revenue, still remaining undiminished. In short, a comparison of the year 1863 with 1838 (the last complete year under the old system) shows that the number of chargeable letters has risen from 76,000,000 to 642,000,000 ; and that the revenue, at first so much im- paired, has not only recovered its original amount, but risen, the gross from 2,346,000/. to about 3,870,000/. and the net from 1,660,000/ to about'' 1,790,000/* The expectations I held out before the change were, that eventually, under the operation of my plans, the number of letters would increase fivefold, the gross revenue would be the same as before, while the net revenue would sustain a loss of about 300,000/ The preceding statement shows that the letters have increased, not fivefold, but nearly eight and a half fold ; that the gross revenue, instead of remaining the same, has increased by about 1,500,000/; while the net revenue, instead of falling 300,000/, has risen more than 100,000/ * In this comparison of revenue, the mode of calculation in use before the adoption of penny-postage has of course been retained — that is to say, the cost of the packets on the one hand, and the produce of the impressed newspaper stamps on the other, have been excluded. The amounts for 1863 are, to some extent, estimated, the accounts not having as yet been fully made up. 348 Her Majesty's Mails. While the revenue of the Post-OfRce has thus more than recovered its former amount, the indirect benefit to the general revenue of the country, arising from the greatly increased facilities afforded to commercial transactions, though incapable of exact estimate, must be very large. Perhaps it is not too much to assume that, all things considered, the vast benefit of cheap, rapid, and extended postal communication has been obtained, even as regards the past, without fiscal loss. For the future, there must be a large and ever-increasing gain. The indirect benefit referred to above is partly manifested in the development of the money-order system, under which, since the year 1839, the annual amount transmitted has risen from 313,000/. to 16,494,000/. — that is, fifty-two fold. An important collateral benefit of the riew system is to be found in the cessation of that contraband conveyance which once prevailed so far that habitual breach of the postal law had become a thing of course. It may be added, that the organization thus so greatly improved and extended for postal purposes stands available for other objects, and passing over minor matters, has already been applied with great advantage to the new system of savings' banks. Lastly, the improvements briefly referred to above, with all their commercial, educational, and social benefits, have now been adopted, in greater or less degree — and that through the mere force of example — by the whole civilized world. I cannot conclude this summary without gratefully ac- knowledging the cordial co-operation and zealous aid afforded me in the discharge of my arduous duties. I must especially refer to many among the superior officers of the Department — men whose ability would do credit to any service, and whose zeal could not be greater if their object were private instead of public benefit. ROWLAND HILL. Hampstead, Feb. 2yd, 1864. R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, LONDON. A LIST OF BOOKS PUBLISHING. BY SAMPSON LOW, SON, and MARSTON. 14, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON. [April, 1864, NEW ILLUSTRATED TVORKS. ^AVOUIUTE English Poems. Complete Edition. Compriaiiig a Collection of the most celebrated Poems ia the Euglish Language, with but one or two exceptions uaabriilyed, from ChaucL-r to Tennyson. With 300 Illus- trations by the first Artists. Two vols, royal 8vo. half- bouud, top gilt, Roxburgh style, 1/. 18s. ; antique calf, 3/. 3s. •„• Either "Volume sold separately as distinct works. 1. ** Early English Poems, Chaucer to Dyer." 2. " Favourite Englifah Poems, Thomson to Tenin'^Dn." Eauh handsomely bound in cloth, II. Is.; or morocco extra, 1/. 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Eighty Years' Progress of British North America: showing the Wonderful Development of its Natural Resources by the unbounded Energy and Enterprise or its Inhabitants; giving in an historical form the vast Improvements made in A gj'i culture, Commerce, and Trade; Modes of Travel and Transportation ; Mining and Educational Interests, &c. Illustrated with Steel Engravings. 8vo. pp 776, cloth, 21s. George Washington's Life, by Washington Irving. Library Illustrated Edition. 5 vols. Imp. 8vo. Al. 4s. Library Edit. Royal 8to. 12s. each Life of John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, by C. F. Adams. 8vo. 14s. Life and Works complete, 10 vols. 14s. each. TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE. sy Southern Friends. By Edmund Kirke. One Vol. Fcap. 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6