THE TRANSITION PERIOD AT THE POST-OFFICE.
It must not be supposed that the improvements in mail-conveyance were
the only beneficial changes introduced into the Post-Office during the
fifty years which we have designated as the mail-coach era. It is true
that, compared with the progress of the country in many other respects,
the period might be termed uneventful. Still, there are incidental
changes to chronicle of some importance in themselves, and likewise
important in their bearing on the present position of the Post-Office.
If we retrace our steps to the year 1792, we shall find, for instance,
that in that year an entirely new branch of business was commenced at
the General Post-Office. We refer to the origin of the Money-Order
establishment. The beginnings of this system, which, as the reader must
be aware, has of late years assumed gigantic proportions, were simple
and unassuming in the extreme. The Government of the day had expressed a
desire for the establishment of a medium by which soldiers and sailors
might transmit to their homes such small sums as they could manage to
save for that purpose. Three officers of the Post-Office jointly
submitted a scheme to make a part of the Post-Office machinery available
in this direction, and a monopoly was readily conceded to them.
The undertaking was further favoured with the sanction of the
Postmasters-General. The designation of the firm was to be "Stow & Co.,"
each of the three partners agreeing to find a thousand pounds capital.
The stipulations made were, that the business should be carried on at
the cost and at the risk of the originators, and that they, in return,
should receive the profits. It was agreed, also, that they should enjoy
the privilege of sending all their correspondence free of postage--no
inconsiderable item saved to them. Contrary to anticipations, the
proceeds were considerable--not so much on account of the number of
transactions, as on the high commission that was charged for the
money-orders. Their terms were eightpence for every pound; but if the
sum exceeded two pounds, a stamp-duty of one shilling was levied by
Government in addition. No order could be issued for more than five
guineas; and the charge for that sum amounted to four shillings and
sixpence, or nearly five per cent. When it is considered that the
expense did not end here, but that a letter containing a money-order was
subjected to _double postage_, it cannot be wondered at that those who
dealt with the three monopolists were few in number, and only persons
under a positive necessity to remit money speedily. Such a system, it
will be admitted, could not of itself be expected to foster trade. When
the general public were admitted to the benefits of the Money-order
Office--as they were some few years after the establishment of the
office--it does not appear that the business was greatly increased.
Almost from the commencement, the managers drew yearly proceeds, which
varied but slightly from year to year, averaging about 200_l._ each.
While, on the one hand, this office was seen to be a most useful
institution, good in principle, and likely, if properly managed, to
contribute largely to the general revenue of the Post-Office; on the
other hand, it was clearly stationary, if not retrograde in its
movements. In 1834, the attention of practical men was more immediately
called to the question by a return which was asked for by the House of
Commons, for a detailed account of the poundage, &c. on money-orders of
each provincial post-office, and the purpose or purposes to which the
monies were applied. The Postmaster-General replied, that the
Money-order Office was a private establishment, worked by private
capital, under his sanction; but he could give no returns, because the
accounts were not under his control. In 1838, a new Postmaster-General,
Lord Lichfield, sought and obtained the consent of the Treasury to
convert the Office into a branch under his immediate direction. In that
year the chief Money-order Office commenced business in two small rooms
at the north end of St. Martin's-le-Grand, with a staff of three clerks.
Though the charges were reduced to a commission of sixpence for sums
under two pounds, and of one shilling and sixpence for sums up to five
pounds, the new branch was worked at a loss, owing to the high rates of
postage and the double payment to which letters containing enclosures
were subjected. After the introduction of penny postage, the change was
so marked, that the immense success of this branch establishment may be
considered as entirely owing to the reduction of postage-rates. Had the
penny-postage scheme done no more for the nation than assisted the
people in the exercise of a timely prudence and frugality, stimulating
them, as it can be proved, to self-denial and benevolence, it would have
done much. But we are anticipating an important era. Soon after the
passing of the Penny-postage Act, the commission on money-orders was
reduced to threepence instead of sixpence, and sixpence for any amount
above two pounds and under five pounds. In 1840, the number of
money-order transactions had increased to thousands, in the place of
hundreds under the old _régime_. The money passed through the office in
the advent year of cheap postage amounted to nearly half a million
sterling, the Post-Office commission on the sum exceeding 6,000_l._ The
rate of increase, subsequently, may best be shown by taking a month's
work ten years afterwards. Thus, during one month of 1850, twice as many
orders were taken out and paid as were issued and paid during 1840, the
particulars of which year were given above. The same rate of increase
has continued up to the present moment. During the year 1862, the number
of orders had, in round numbers, risen to more than seven and a half
millions, or a money-value exceeding sixteen millions sterling, the
commission on the whole amounting to more than one hundred and
thirty-six thousand pounds.[70]
By the statute of Queen Anne, letters might be brought from abroad by
_private ships_ under certain distinctly-specified regulations. On the
contrary, no law existed enabling the Postmaster-General to _send_ bags
of letters by the same medium until 1799, when an Act was passed with
this object. Masters of such ships refusing to take bags were subjected
to heavy penalties.[71] The postage of letters so sent (on account of
the slowness of transit in the majority of cases) was fixed at half the
usual rates. This Act is the foundation of the ship-letter system, by
means of which, besides the regular packet communication, letters are
forwarded to all parts of the world. At the same period the Government
rigorously adhered to the law as laid down with regard to letters
_brought_ by private vessels. A case was tried in 1806 in the Court of
King's Bench--"King _v._ Wilson"--in which the defendant--a merchant who
had had letters brought from the Continent in a ship of his own, and
pleaded that he had a right to do so--was cast in heavy damages, and
told that "all and every such letters, as well as others," must pass
through the Post-Office in the usual way.
In the year 1814, the business of the Post-Office had increased so
greatly, that an agitation was commenced with the object of securing
better accommodation for its despatch than was afforded by the office in
Lombard Street. The first General Post-Office was opened in Cloak Lane,
near Dowgate Hill, and removed from thence to the Black Swan in
Bishopsgate Street. After the Great Fire of 1666, a General Office was
opened in Covent Garden, but it was soon removed to Lombard Street, to a
house which had been the residence of Sir Robert Viner, once Lord Mayor
of London. It was now proposed that a large and commodious building
should be specially erected in some central part of the City, and the
business once more transferred. In the Session of 1814 we find a Mr.
Butterworth presenting a petition to the House of Commons from four
thousand London merchants, in favour of an early removal of the
Post-Office from Lombard Street. He was assured, he said, that the
present office "was so close and confined, as to be injurious to the
health of those concerned;" he further stated, that "two guineas were
expended weekly for vinegar to fumigate the rooms and prevent infectious
fevers." Another hon. member stated that the access to the office was so
narrow and difficult, that the mail-coaches were prevented from getting
up to it to take the letter-bags. It is curious to note that even this
change was contested. Counter-petitions were presented to Parliament,
stating that the Lombard Street office was convenient enough, and that
the movement was got up by interested parties. Many years passed before
the discussions ended and the preliminary arrangements were made.
Nothing could better serve to show the stationary character of the
Post-Office than the fact that, year by year, and in the opinion of the
authorities, the Lombard Street establishment sufficed for its wants and
requirements. In 1825, however, Government acquiesced in the views of
the great majority of London residents, and St. Martin's-le-Grand--the
site of an ancient convent and sanctuary--was chosen for a large new
building, to be erected from designs by Sir R. Smirke. It was five
years in course of erection, and opened for the transaction of business
on the 25th of September, 1829. The building is of the Grecian-Ionic
order, and is one of the handsomest public structures in London. The
basement is of granite, but the edifice itself, which is 400 feet in
length and 80 feet in width, is built of brick, faced all round with
Portland stone. In the centre is a grand portico with fluted columns,
leading to the great hall, which forms a public thoroughfare from St.
Martin's-le-Grand to Foster Lane.
From the date of the opening of the new General Post-Office,
improvements were proposed and carried out very earnestly. Under the
Duke of Richmond, reforms in the establishment set in with considerable
vigour.[72] He seems to have been the first Postmaster-General during
the present century who thought the accommodation which the Post-Office
gave to the public was really of a restrictive nature; that more
facility might easily be given to the public; and that the system of
management was an erroneous one. In 1834, the Duke of Richmond submitted
a list of improvements to the Treasury Lords, in which there were at
least thirty substantial measures of reform proposed. It is true that
many of these measures had been strongly recommended to him by the
Commissioners of Post-Office Inquiry, who had sat yearly on the
Post-Office and other revenue branches of the public service. The
previous policy, however, of the authorities was to put on a bold front
against any recommendations not originating with themselves. The Duke of
Richmond had considerably less of this feeling than some of his
predecessors. Thus, to take the principal measure of reform concluded in
his time--namely, the complete amalgamation of the Scotch and Irish
Offices with the English Post-Office--we find that the twenty-third
report of the Commissioners, signed by "Wallace," W. J. Lushington,
Henry Berens, and J. P. Dickenson, spoke strongly on the inadequacy "of
the present system of administration to reach the different parts of the
country," and urging the expediency "of providing against any more
conflict of opinion, and of securing a more extended co-operation, as
well as unity of design, in the management of the distinct Offices of
England, Scotland, and Ireland." Again, in 1831, on the recommendation
of the Commission, the Postmaster-General ordered that the boundaries of
the London district post--which, in 1801, became a "Twopenny Post," and
letters for which post, if delivered beyond the boundaries of the cities
of London and Westminster and the borough of Southwark, were charged
threepence--should now be extended to include all places within _three_
miles of the General Post-Office. Two years afterwards, on the
recommendation of another Commission, the limits of the "Twopenny Post"
were again extended to places not exceeding _twelve_ miles from St.
Martin's-le-Grand, and this arrangement continued till the time of
uniform penny postage. The Duke of Richmond likewise appointed a daily
post to France, established a number of new mail-coaches, and abolished,
in great part, the system of paying the clerks, &c. of the Post-Office
by fees, substituting fixed salaries in each case.[73]
In 1830, on the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
the mails of the district were consigned to the new company for
transmission. The railway system developed but slowly, exerting little
influence on Post-Office arrangements for the first few years. After
public attention had been attracted to railways, many proposals were
thrown out for the more quick transmission of mails, to the supercession
of the mail-coach. One writer suggested the employment of balloons.
Professor Babbage threw out suggestions, in his _Economy of Machinery
and Manufactures_, 1832, pp. 218-221, deserving more attention, because
in them we see shadowed forth two at least of the greatest enterprises
of our time. After proceeding to show, in a manner which must have been
interesting to the post-reformers of 1839-40, that if the cost of
letter-carrying could be reduced, the result might be (if the
Post-Office people chose) a cheaper rate of postage and a corresponding
increase in the number of letters, he proceeded to expound a scheme
which, though vague, was described in words extremely interesting,
seeing that he wrote long anterior to the time of the electric
telegraph. Imagine, says he, a series of high pillars erected at
frequent intervals, as nearly as possible in a straight line between two
post-towns. An iron or steel wire of some thickness must be stretched
over proper supports, fixed on these pillars, and terminating at the
end, say of four or five miles, in a very strong support, by which the
whole may be stretched. He proposed to call each of these places
station-houses, where a man should be in attendance. A narrow
cylindrical tin case, to contain bags or letters, might be suspended on
two wheels rolling upon the wire, whilst an endless wire of smaller size
might be made to pass over two drums, one at each end, by which means
the cylinder could be moved by the person at the station. Much more of
the details follow, and our author thus concludes:--"The difficulties
are obvious; but if these were overcome, it would present many
advantages besides velocity." _We might have two or three deliveries of
letters[74] every day_; we might send expresses at any moment; and "it
is not impossible that a stretched wire might itself be made available
for a _species of telegraphic communication yet more rapid_." After the
first few years of railways, all other speculators quietly withdrew into
the shade. In the Post-Office, towards 1838 and 1839, the influence of
railways promised soon to be paramount, and it was now that Acts were
passed in Parliament "to provide for the conveyance of mails by
railways."
In 1836, Sir Francis Freeling, the Secretary of the Post-Office, died,
when his place was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Maberly. The latter
gentleman, who was an entire stranger to the department, was introduced
into the Post-Office by the Treasury for the purpose, as it was stated,
of zealously carrying out the reforms which another commission of
inquiry had just recommended.[75] On the premature fall of Sir Robert
Peel's first Cabinet, early in the previous year, the Earl of Lichfield
had succeeded to the office of Postmaster-General under Lord Melbourne.
The two new officers set to work in earnest, and succeeded in
inaugurating many important reforms. They got the Money-order Office
transferred, as we have already seen, from private hands to the General
Establishment; they began the system of registering valuable letters;
and, taking advantage of one of Mr. Hill's suggestions, they started a
number of day-mails to the provinces. Towards the close of 1836, the
stamp duty on newspapers was reduced from about threepence-farthing net
to one penny, a reduction which led to an enormous increase in the
number of newspapers passing through the Post-Office.
Though all these improvements were being carried out, and in many
respects the Post-Office was showing signs of progression, the
authorities still clung with a most unreasonable tenacity to the
accustomed rates of postage, and of necessity to all the evils which
followed in the train of an erroneous fiscal principle. Contrary to all
experience in any other department, the Government obstinately refused
to listen for a moment to any plan for the reduction of postage rates,
or, what is still more remarkable, even to the alleviation of burdens
caused directly by the official arrangements of the period. For example,
Colonel Maberly had no sooner learnt the business of his office, than he
saw very clearly an anomaly which pressed heavily in some cases, and was
felt in all. He at once made a proposition to the Treasury that letters
should be charged in all cases according to the exact distance between
the places where a letter was posted and where delivered, and not
according to the distance through which the Post-Office, _for purposes
of its own_, might choose to send such letters. It may serve to show the
extent to which this strange and anomalous practice was carried, if we
state that the estimated reduction in the postal revenue, had Colonel
Maberly's suggestion been acted upon, was given at no less than
80,000_l._ annually! The Lords of the Treasury promptly refused the
concession.
In 1837 the average general postage was estimated at 9½_d._ per
letter; exclusive of foreign letters, it was still as high as 8¾_d._
In the reign of Queen Anne the postage of a letter between London and
Edinburgh was less than half as much as the amount charged at the
accession of Queen Victoria, with macadamized roads, and even with
steam. Notwithstanding the heavy rates, or let us say, on account of
these rates, the net proceeds of the gigantic monopoly of the
Post-Office remained stationary for nearly twenty years. In 1815, the
revenue derivable from the Post-Office was estimated at one and a half
millions sterling. In 1836, the increase on this amount had only been
between three and four thousand pounds, though the population of the
country had increased immensely; knowledge was more diffused, and trade
and commerce had extended in every direction. Had the Post-Office
revenue increased, for instance, in the same ratio as population, we
should have found the proceeds to have been increased by half a million
sterling; or at the ratio of increase of stage-coach travelling, it must
have been two millions sterling.
The high rates, while they failed to increase the Post-Office revenue,
undoubtedly led to the evasion of the postage altogether. Illicit modes
of conveyance were got up and patronised by some of the principal
merchants in the kingdom. Penal laws were set at defiance, and the
number of contraband letters became enormous. Some carriers were doing
as large a business as the Post-Office itself. On one occasion the
agents of the Post-Office made a seizure, about this time, of eleven
hundred such letters, which were found in a single bag in the warehouse
of certain eminent London carriers. The head of the firm hastened to
seek an interview with the Postmaster-General, and proffered instant
payment of 500_l._ by way of composition for the penalties incurred, and
if proceedings against the firm might not be instituted. The money was
taken, and the letters were all passed through the Post-Office the same
night.[76] For one case which was detected, however, a hundred were
never made known. The evasion of the Post-Office charges extended so far
and so wide that the officials began to declare that any attempt to stop
the smuggling, or even to check it, was as good as hopeless.
Prosecutions for the illicit conveyance of letters had, in fact, ceased
long before the misdemeanours themselves.
The Post-Office was now ripe for a sweeping change. Mr. Wallace, the
member for Greenock, had frequently called the attention of the House of
Commons to the desirability of a thorough reform in the Post-Office
system. We find him moving at different times for Post-Office returns.
For instance, in August, 1833, Mr. Wallace[77] brought forward a subject
which, he said, "involved a charge of the most serious nature against
the Post-Office--viz. that the Postmaster-General, or some person acting
under his direction, with the view of discovering a fraud upon its
revenue, has been guilty of a felony in the opening of letters." He
moved on this occasion for a return of all and every instruction,
bye-law, or authority, under which postmasters are instructed and
authorized, or have assumed a right, to open, unfold, apply strong
lamp-light to, or use any of them, or any other means whatever, for
ascertaining or reading what may be contained in words or in figures in
any letter, of any size or description, being fastened with a wafer or
wax, or even if totally unfastened by either. At the same time he moved
for a return of all Post-Office prosecutions,[78] especially for the
expenses of a recent case at Stafford. In reply, the Post-Office
answered in a parliamentary paper that no such instruction had ever been
issued from the General Post-Office. Every person in the Post-Office was
required to take the oath prescribed by the Act of 9 Queen Anne, c. 10.
It was added, that "whenever it is noticed that a letter has been put
into the post unfastened, it is invariably sealed with the official seal
for security." In reply to the other return, the Post-Office were forced
to admit that the cost of prosecuting a woman and a female child at the
suit of the Post-Office at the late Stafford Assizes exceeded three
hundred and twenty pounds.
There can be no question that Mr. Wallace's frequent motions[79] for
Post-Office papers, returns, statistics, detailed accounts of receipt
and expenditure, &c., were the means of drawing special attention to the
Post-Office, and that they were of incalculable service to the progress
of reform and the coming reformer. Mr. Wallace seems to have been
exceedingly honest and straightforward, though he was somewhat blunt and
outspoken. He succeeded in gaining the attention of the mercantile
community, though the Government honoured him with just as much
consideration as he was entitled to from his position, and no more.[80]
In estimating properly the penny-post system, and the labours of those
who inaugurated the reform, the share Mr. Wallace had in it should by no
means be lost sight of.
FOOTNOTES:
[70] These items are exclusive of those relating to colonial
money-orders.
[71] The Government can grant a release to any ship fixed for this
service. It will be remembered by many readers that after the
_Peterhoff_ was taken by Admiral Wilkes of the United States' navy,
February, 1863, the proprietors of the vessel, who had other ships on
the same line (with all of which the Post-Office sent ship-letters),
asked the Government for the protection of a mail-officer. On the
principle of choosing the least of two evils, and rather than take such
a decisive step, which might lead to troubles with the United States'
Government, Earl Russell relieved the _Sea Queen_ from the obligation to
carry the usual mail-bag to Matamoras.
[72] The Duke of Richmond, though opposed to the Reform Bill, was a
member of Lord Grey's Cabinet. Indefatigable in the service of the
department over which he was placed from 1830 to 1834, he refused at
first to accept of any remuneration of the nature of salary. In
compliance, it is stated, with the strong representation of the Treasury
Lords, as to the objectionable nature of the principle of gratuitous
services by public officers, "which must involve in many cases the
sacrifice of private fortune to official station," His Grace consented
to draw his salary _from that time only_.
[73] The salary of the Secretary to the Post-Office in the last century
was 600_l._ a-year, and a commission of 2½ per cent. on the produce
of the mail-packets.--(Vide _Pitt's Speeches_, vol. i. p. 53-5, Debate
of June 17, 1783.) In 1830 the Secretary's salary was 300_l._ a-year,
but what with compensations, fees, and other emoluments, his annual
income is stated to have amounted to no less than 4,560_l._--(_Mirror of
Parliament_, 1835). The clerks, according to a Parliamentary return,
were paid small salaries, regulated on different scales, but their
income consisted principally of emoluments derived from other sources.
The _established_ allowances, charged on the public revenue, consisted
of sums for postage, stationery, payment in lieu of apartments, and for
continuing indexes to official books. The remaining emoluments, of
course not chargeable against the revenue, arose from _fees on
deputations_, commissions, expresses, profits on the publication of the
_Shipping_ and _Packet Lists_, payments for franking letters on the
business of the Land-Tax Redemption, and for the Tax-Office, &c. and
from Lloyd's Coffee House for shipping intelligence, &c. There were,
besides, other gratuities for special services.
[74] We give the following simply to show the vagaries of clever,
scientific men. Speaking of London, the Professor said:--"Perhaps if the
steeples of churches, properly selected, were made use of--as, for
instance, St. Paul's--and if a similar apparatus were placed at the top
of each steeple, and a man to work it during the day, it might be
possible to diminish the expense of the twopenny post, and make
deliveries every half-hour over the greater part of the metropolis." P.
221.
[75] Evidence of Colonel Maberly before the _Select Committee on
Postage_, 1843, p. 170.
[76] Mr. Matthew Devonport Hill. 1862.
[77] _Mirror of Parliament._ Barrow. 1833.
[78] Now and then the House was enlivened and amused by even Post-Office
discussions. Thus, in the discussion on the above motion, Mr. Cobbett
complained that a letter of his, which "was not only meant to be read,
but to be printed," had never been received by him, nor could he get any
satisfaction out of the Post-Office authorities. He advised all
honourable members who had complaints to make against the Post-Office,
to make them at once to the House, without having any interview with
Ministers. For his own part, with regard to letters being opened, he
felt sure that the Post-Office read all the letters it cared to read; so
he took care to _write accordingly_. He didn't care about his letters
being read, provided they were allowed to go on, as he addressed them.
_Mr. Secretary Stanley_ (the present Lord Derby) thought it would be a
subject of deep regret that any negligence on the part of the
Post-Office had prevented the elaborate lucubrations of the hon. member
for Oldham from appearing in the _Register_ on the appointed Saturday.
_Mr. Cobbett._ It never appeared at all.
Mr. Secretary Stanley was grieved. He felt sure, however, that the hon.
member spends too much time over the midnight oil not to have kept a
copy of his precious essay. He protested against hon. members taking up
the time of the House with complaints against a department which managed
its work very well.
[79] Some of his motions must have been far from palatable to the powers
that were, and we confess to thinking some of them wanting in charity
and good taste. For example, September 7, 1835, we find him moving for a
return, to supplement another which had been sent in imperfectly drawn
up, which should show "what the special services are for which Sir
Francis Freeling receives 700_l._ a-year, the number of rooms allotted
to him at the General Post-Office, and how often he resides there. Also
the number allotted to the Under-Secretary; whether the whole or part,
and what parts are furnished at the public expense; also the annual sum
for coals and candles, for servants, &c.; also the probable expense of
expresses, messengers, and runners, passing between the Post-Office and
the Secretary at his private residence," and a number of other items
still more trifling.
[80] _The Quarterly Review_, for October, 1839, speaking of his motions
for different papers, says, "What _grounds_ he had for making them could
only be imagined. They were, in fact, the kind of random motions with
which a member _fishes for abuses, but is still more anxious to catch
notoriety_." The italics are not ours.