THE BATTLE OF THE PATENTS
1609-1635
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the established posts were
only four in number,--the post to Scotland, the post to Ireland, the
post to Plymouth, and the post to Dover; and of these the most important
by far, because the most used, was the last, the post through the county
of Kent. It was through this county that the high-road to the Continent
lay, and, while commercial relations as between one town and another
within the kingdom were yet a thing of the future, the foreign trade of
the country had already reached very considerable proportions. The
persecutions in France and the Low Countries had driven a large number
of foreigners to London, and here the Flemings introduced the
manufacture of wool into cloth. In this commodity alone the exports from
England to the Netherlands in the time of Philip the Second amounted to
five millions of crowns annually.[4] In education no less than
manufactures the Flemings were far in advance of our own countrymen.
There was scarcely a peasant among them that could not both read and
write. While, therefore, the other three posts of the kingdom were still
being little used except for letters on affairs of State, the post to
the Continent had already become matter of public concern.
[4] An amusing illustration of the value which, at the end of the
sixteenth century, was set upon cloth made in London is afforded by a
letter from Frederick the Second of Denmark to Queen Elizabeth. This
letter, dated the 14th of June 1585, is thus summarised in the 46th
Annual Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, Appendix ii.,
page 28: "Has for some years past had cloth prepared in London of
different colours and after a particular pattern, for his use in hunting
both in summer and winter. Hears now that certain German merchants,
having found this out, have had similar cloth manufactured, which they
sell everywhere, outside his Court and family, to many inquisitive and
foolish imitators, at a very dear rate. It is no concern of his what
anybody may wear, but still, as this cloth was made of a special kind
and colour for himself, he takes it ill that it should be sold to
others, and begs her therefore (on the application of his agent, Thomas
Thenneker) strictly to prohibit the sale."
This post had long been jealously watched, the foreign merchants in
London claiming to send their letters by their own agents, and the Crown
insisting that they should be sent only through the established channel.
It was an old feud, extending far back into the sixteenth century. In
1591 a proclamation on the subject had been issued. This, in respect to
the post through the county of Kent, established that State monopoly of
letters which was not made general until eighteen years afterwards. It
was to the protection of the same post that the proclamation of 1603 had
been directed, the proclamation reserving to those who horsed the posts
the exclusive right of letting horses to travellers. But these measures
had been of little avail. The foreign merchants still employed their own
agents to carry their letters, and these agents, instead of resorting to
the post-houses, still procured horses where and as best they could.
Once more recourse was had to a proclamation, which differed little from
others that had gone before except in one important particular. This was
the open avowal that among the chief cares of the State it had been and
continued to be by no means the least "to meete with the dangerous and
secret intelligences of ill-affected persons, both at home and abroad,
by the overgreat liberty taken both in writing and riding in poste,
specially in and through our countie of Kent." The magistrates were
enjoined to take care that horses were procured at the post-houses
alone. No letters were to be sent except through the post, and notice to
this effect was to be served upon all the merchants of the city of
London, "both strangers and others." Unauthorised persons suspected of
having letters upon them were, before entering or leaving the kingdom,
to be searched. And any packets or letters found to be illicitly
conveyed were to be sent up to the Privy Council, and the bearers of
them to be apprehended and kept in safe custody pending the Council's
orders.
At this time the office of Master of the Posts was held by Lord Stanhope
of Harrington, and under Lord Stanhope, to superintend the foreign post,
was employed a foreigner of the name of De Quester. This man, with the
assistance of his son, appears to have discharged his duties
efficiently. He made communication with the Continent both cheaper and
more expeditious. His promptitude in forwarding the public despatches
had attracted the attention of his Sovereign. In 1619, in recognition of
these services, the King created the control of the foreign post into a
separate appointment, independent of Lord Stanhope, and conferred it
upon De Quester and his son, under the title of "Postmaster of England
for Foreign parts out of the King's Dominions."
It is possible that De Quester's appointment, though ostensibly a reward
for good service, was dictated in part by policy. But if designed to
appease the foreign merchants, it signally failed of its object. The
truth seems to be that they were animated by feelings of profound
distrust. Many years later, when De Quester had retired, the English
merchants, in a petition to the King, protested against the choice of a
successor being left to the "strangers." This, they said, would be to
their own great prejudice. Even the letters patent by which that
successor was appointed give as a reason for not letting the strangers
have a post of their own that thus the secrets of the realm would be
disclosed to foreign nations. Such being the feelings on one side, it
would be strange indeed if they had not also existed on the other.
De Quester's appointment, while displeasing to the foreign merchants,
gave dire offence to Lord Stanhope. The letters patent by which this
peer held his office had expressly declared that not only the internal
posts of the kingdom were to be under his direction, but also those
"beyond the seas within the King's dominions." This expression, repeated
from former patents, applied, no doubt, to Calais. And yet, could it in
reason be contended that his rights were not being infringed if the post
through which all letters between London and the Continent passed were
transferred to other hands? Except for the practice of granting offices
in remainder, Stanhope's death at this time would have settled the
difficulty. As a matter of fact, however, the difficulty had only begun.
By a deed granted thirteen years before, his son and successor in the
title succeeded also to the office of Master of the Posts, and it soon
became evident that the younger Stanhope had no intention, without a
struggle, of letting the grant to himself be whittled away by a
subsequent grant to another. The Council, not composed of laymen alone,
but comprising among its members Coventry, soon to become Lord Keeper,
and Heath, the Solicitor-General, advised the King that "both grants
might well stand together, being of distinct places." Stanhope rejoined
that his was "an ancient office tyme out of minde," and that by
prescription it carried with it the control of letters passing between
England and the Continent as well as others. Again the Council reported
against his claim. In support of it, they said, no patent or proofs had
been adduced before them more ancient than the time of Henry the Eighth.
Stanhope, who remained unconvinced, now proceeded to assert his rights,
or what he conceived to be his rights, with remarkable vigour. He caused
De Quester to be molested in the discharge of his duties; he placarded
the city of London, cautioning all persons against sending letters
except by his own agents; he instituted proceedings in the Court of
King's Bench; and he even stirred up the foreign merchants to make
common cause with himself against the intruder.
The probable explanation of Stanhope's conduct is that De Quester's
appointment touched him in that most sensitive part, the pocket. His
salary as Master of the Posts was L66:13:4 a year, and this he would of
course receive in any case; but on letters to the Continent there were
certain fees to be paid, a fee of 8d. on each letter to or from
Amsterdam, and a like sum between London and Antwerp or London and
Hamburgh, and these, as seems to have been admitted in the suit at law,
were the motive cause.
In vain the King proclaimed against Stanhope's proceedings. The Privy
Council met to consider the question as between him and De Quester, and
separated without coming to a conclusion. Four more meetings were held,
and with an equally unsatisfactory result. Clearly there was a conflict
of opinion at the Council Board. Meanwhile the decisions as regards the
merchants were marked by extraordinary vacillation. First, the Merchant
Adventurers were "to have a post of their owne choice" to the city of
Hamburgh and town of Delph, "where the staples of cloth are now fetched
or to such other place or places whither the same shall happen to be
removed"; then they were summoned before the Council to shew cause why
they also should not send their letters by De Quester; then the
concession was not only confirmed in the case of the Merchant
Adventurers, but extended to all other "Companies of Merchants"; and
then in the case of these other companies the concession was withdrawn,
but only, in the course of a few weeks, to be restored. Only few
restrictions were imposed. No one carrying the merchants' letters was to
"keepe any publick office," to "hange up any Tables," or to "weare any
Badge"; nor was he to be employed until his name had been submitted to
the Secretary of State for approval. It was also provided that in times
of war or danger the Secretary of State, if he required it, was to be
"made acquainted" with the letters and despatches which the messenger
carried.
The final decision of the Council, which left the merchants in
possession of a post of their own, practically superseded De Quester's
appointment, and this drew forth an indignant protest from Sir John
Coke. The two Secretaries of State, of whom Coke was one, had been
specially charged with the protection of De Quester's office, and the
decision had been arrived at in their absence. Meanwhile a broker, of
the name of Billingsley, was carrying the merchants' letters, and the
same man was being employed by Stanhope. Coke's indignation knew no
bounds. "I confess," he said, "it troubleth me to see the audacity of
men in these times, and that Billingsley, a broker by trade, should dare
to attempt thus often to question the King's service, and to derive that
power of foreign letters unto merchants which in all states is a branch
of regal authority." Can any place in Christendom be named where
merchants are allowed to send their letters except through the
authorised post? It is true that, as an act of grace, the Merchant
Adventurers here have been suffered to send and receive their letters by
private hand; but such letters have been only to and from their own mart
towns and concerning their private business. That this man of theirs
should be suffered to carry any letters he please--letters from
merchants in general, and even from ambassadors, is a thing that has
never been heard of nor durst any attempt it before. "Indeed the
merchants' purse hath swayed very much in other matters in former times,
but I never heard that it encroached upon the King's prerogative until
now." A pretty account will those who are charged with the peace of the
realm be able to give in their places "of that which passeth by letters
in or out of the land if every man may convey letters, under the covers
of merchants', to whom and what place he pleaseth." Coke went so far as
to suggest that advantage had been taken of a small attendance at the
Council Table to extort the concession from the King upon wrong or
imperfect information. Surely His Majesty cannot have been informed "how
unfit a time this is to give liberty to every man to write and send what
he list."
Nor did Coke's indignation confine itself to words, for it is impossible
not to conclude that he was at the bottom of the high-handed proceeding
that followed. Stanhope had gained his suit at law; yet the Council,
far from revoking De Quester's patent, granted him an order consigning
Billingsley to prison. It was not until he had been there for three
months that Parliament, which had recently passed a vote against
arbitrary imprisonments, petitioned the King for his release.
Of the final issue of the contest nothing is known. But it seems
probable that the foreign merchants were not deterred by the treatment
which Billingsley had received from keeping up a post of their own.
Other and more serious matters were beginning to occupy the attention of
the Court, and it may well be believed that irregularities which had
been challenged before might now be allowed to pass unnoticed. Be that
as it may, in 1632 De Quester, who had lost his son, and had become old
and infirm, associated with himself in the execution of his office two
men named Frizell and Witherings, and to these persons he shortly
afterwards assigned his patent. Frizell appears to have been little more
than a sleeping partner; but Witherings soon established a high
character for ability and powers of organisation. The foreign post had
not been under his charge for more than three years before the King
commissioned him to examine also into the inland posts, and to put them
on another and better footing.