COTTON AND FRANKLAND
_Packet Service_
1686-1713
Of the packet service prior to 1686 we have no particulars; but that
some such service had long existed, though probably on a very limited
scale, hardly admits of a doubt. To Ireland, as to other parts of the
kingdom, a regular post had been established in 1635; and it is
difficult to suppose that a mail on arriving at Holyhead would be left
to a chance vessel to carry it across the Channel. The probability of
some organised means of transport is still stronger in the case of
Dover. Dover was the town through which all letters for the Continent
passed; and our trade with the Continent had for a century and more been
considerable. Hence it was that the post through the county of Kent had
been carefully nursed while as yet no other part of the country had any
post at all. But if, as seems certain, both Dover and Holyhead were
packet stations long prior to 1686, it is almost equally certain that
these were the only two in the kingdom.
In that year the arrangements, whatever they were, for carrying the
mails between England and France came to an end, and a new service was
established between Dover and Calais and between Dover and Ostend or
Nieuport. This was succeeded in the following year by a similar service
between England and Holland. Both services were to be carried on by
contract. In the one case the contractor was to receive L1170 a year,
and also to have the management of the letter office at Dover. In the
other the payment was to be L900 a year, for which sum three hoys were
to be maintained, two of sixty and one of forty tons, and carrying six
men each. For the service to Holland the packet stations were, on this
side of the water, Harwich, and, on the other, the Brill.
To the letters which came to this country by regular packet must be
added those that were technically termed ship letters--letters which
were brought by ships arriving at uncertain times from any part of the
world. These letters, according to the provisions of the Act of 1660,
were to be given up to the postmaster at the port of arrival, so that
they might be forwarded to London, and thence despatched to their
destination after being charged with the proper amount of postage. In
this particular, however, the Act proved of little effect. Masters of
ships were offered no inducement to deliver the letters to the
postmaster, and incurred no penalty for omitting to do so. The Post
Office was then in farm; and desirous as the farmers were to make what
they could out of their undertaking, they soon found that it would be
well worth their while to incur some expense which should secure
obedience to the law. Accordingly they undertook that for every letter
which a shipmaster should bring to this country, and deliver to the
postmaster at the port of arrival, he should receive the sum of one
penny. This was the origin of ship letter money--a form of payment which
has since received legal sanction, and exists at the present day.
It was into the port of London that ship letters chiefly came, and here
the number which found their way to the Post Office in Lombard Street
was seriously affected by the establishment of the penny post. That this
was only natural will appear from a simple illustration. From Marseilles
to London the postage was 1s. for a single letter. On one hundred such
letters, therefore, the charge would be L5. But if, instead of taking
these hundred letters to the General Post Office, a shipmaster on his
arrival in the Pool dropped them into the penny post, they would all be
delivered for 8s. 4d. It is true that he would thus lose his gratuity of
one penny a letter; but the difference between the two rates of postage
was such as to leave an ample margin of profit, even after making him
full--and more than full--compensation for his loss. Indeed, if he had
been bent on cheating his employer as well as the Post Office, he might
with very little risk of detection have put the whole of the difference
into his own pocket. In 1686 the number of ship letters accounted for to
the Post Office was 60,447,[20] a number which, forming as it did the
basis of a payment, may be taken as absolutely correct, because the Post
Office would take good care not to pay more, and shipmasters not to
receive less, than was absolutely due. It is to be regretted that no
similar account is forthcoming for previous years, so that it might be
seen what was the extent of the influence which the penny post
exercised; but that this influence was considerable is certain from the
continual references made to it by successive postmasters-general during
a long series of years. It is to be observed, however, that they always
speak of it as a thing that was past and gone, a thing baneful enough
while it lasted, but as having been of only short duration. The
explanation is no doubt to be found in the fact that in 1696 two
officers were appointed, whose duty it was to collect letters from all
vessels arriving in the port of London. The boat employed in this
service had assigned to it special colours of its own, on which was
depicted a man on horseback blowing a post horn.[21]
[20] "To divers Masters of Shipps for 60447 letters by them brought from
forreigne parts this year at one penny each according to the
usage--L251:17:3."--Extract from writ of Privy Seal for passing the
accounts of "our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Couzen and
Councellor Lawrence Earle of Rochester, Late our High Treasurer of
England."
[21] "This is to give notice that Lancellot Plumer and William Barret
are appointed by the Postmaster-General of England to receive all such
letters and pacquets from masters of ships and vessels, mariners and
passengers as shall be by them hereafter brought in any ships or vessels
into the Port of London, to the end the same may be delivered with speed
and safety according to their respective directions and the laws of this
kingdom; and that all masters of ships or vessels and all mariners and
passengers may the better take notice thereof, the Right Honourable the
Lords of the Admiralty have directed that the boat employed in this
service do carry colours, in which there is to be represented a man on
horseback blowing a post horn."--_London Gazette_, No. 3247, from Monday
21st December to Thursday 24th December 1696.
In 1689, on the breaking out of the war with France, the Dover boats
ceased to run, and, in order to provide for the letters to Spain which
had hitherto passed through that country, a service was established
between Falmouth and the Groyne. On this service two boats were employed
of two or three hundred tons each. They carried from eighty to ninety
men besides twenty guns, and ran once a fortnight.
The Harwich boats were at the same time increased both in number and in
strength. The three hoys were replaced by four boats--boats of force as
they were called, carrying fifty men each. It may well be believed that,
with so large a crew under his command, the captain of a well-armed
vessel was loth to confine himself to the monotonous task of carrying
the mails to and fro, and went in quest of adventure. But be that as it
may, William, who since his accession to the throne had taken an
extraordinary interest in the Harwich service, was not satisfied with
the performances of these boats. It was his opinion that the first
requisite in a mail packet was speed and not strength. Strength might
indeed enable it to engage an enemy, but speed would enable it to avoid
one. Accordingly, by the King's direction, the Post Office with the
assistance of Edmund Dummer, the Surveyor of the Navy, built four small
boats of its own--boats "of no force," but remarkable for their speed.
The change was not carried out without much grumbling. The boats were
low built, and, except in the calmest weather, shipped a good deal of
water. The sailors complained that they seldom, from one end of the
voyage to the other, had a dry coat to their backs. The absence of any
armament was still more unpalatable to them. They dared not leave the
harbour, at least so they said, when the enemy was to windward; and, as
though to confirm their words, they sometimes after leaving returned. We
shall probably do them no wrong if we distrust these excuses. No
British sailor, or soldier either, cares to turn his back on the foe,
and that this was expected of them, that they were required to run and
not to fight, we suspect to have been the real grievance. Eventually,
but not until some had refused to serve and others had deserted, matters
quieted down. An increase of wages was given all round, raising the pay
above that given in the Royal Navy, and, in order to compensate for the
additional cost, the complement of the crew was reduced from thirty to
twenty-one. It is a striking confirmation of the soundness of William's
view that during the next twenty-four years, although no less than
nineteen of them were years of war, only two of these boats were taken.
Until 1689 the Harwich packets had been self-supporting, the receipts
from freight and passengers being enough to cover the cost. In that
year, as a consequence of the war, the fares were raised. Passengers to
Holland who had hitherto paid 12s. were now to pay 20s., and those who
had paid 6s. were to pay 10s. Recruits and indigent persons passed free.
In 1695 the carriage of goods and merchandise was prohibited. This
prohibition afterwards became common in times of war, but in the present
instance it was imposed in the vain hope of stopping the exportation of
silver. In exchange for silver, gold had long been pouring into the
country, as much as 200 ounces coming by a single packet; and advices
had been received from Amsterdam and Rotterdam that future consignments
would not be restricted even to that quantity. The reform of the
currency, which alone could check this movement of the precious metals,
was expeditiously accomplished; but the prohibition against the carriage
of merchandise remained.
On the conclusion of peace in 1697 the service between Dover and Calais
and between Dover and Ostend recommenced, but only to be discontinued
again on the resumption of hostilities in 1702. During these five years
the relations between the English and French Post Offices had at no time
been friendly, and latterly had become very highly strained. Under the
terms of a Treaty concluded with France in 1698, the mails, as soon as
they arrived on this side at Dover and on the other at Calais, were to
be forwarded to the respective capitals by express. England faithfully
fulfilled her part of the engagement. By France the engagement was
treated as a dead letter. The mails from England, on their arrival at
Calais, instead of being forwarded to Paris by express, were kept back
for the ordinary post; and this post went only once a day, leaving at
three in the afternoon. If, therefore, the packet arrived at four or
five o'clock, the letters were detained for the best part of twenty-four
hours. At Lyons the letters between England and Italy were being treated
after much the same fashion. On arrival in that town--such at least was
the complaint in the city--instead of being forwarded with all despatch,
they were forwarded seldom in due course and sometimes not at all.
M. Pajot was then director of the French posts; and in this capacity he
had signed the Treaty. In vain Cotton and Frankland called his attention
to the breach of its provisions. Their letter was not even acknowledged.
For the transit of British mails across French territory England had
agreed to pay to France the sum of 36,000 livres[22] a year, and a
remittance in payment of the instalment due was sent to Paris; but not
even of this could an acknowledgment be obtained. Let the nature of the
communication to him be what it would, Pajot maintained an obstinate
silence. When war broke out afresh, all intercourse between the two Post
Offices had ceased for nearly three years, and the debt due to France
had accumulated to the amount of 105,600 livres.
[22] Equal, at the then rate of exchange, to L2437:10s.
The cessation of the Dover packets in 1702 was soon followed by that of
the packets between Falmouth and the Groyne, but the want of any regular
means of communication with the Peninsular proved so inconvenient that,
before many months had passed, the service was re-established in a
slightly altered form. The boats, instead of stopping short at the
Groyne, were to run on to Lisbon; and two years later their number was
increased from two to five. This increase was due to political rather
than commercial reasons. It is true that an important commercial treaty
was about this time concluded with Portugal; but, what was considered of
far greater moment, the Archduke Charles after passing through London
had recently proceeded to that country in furtherance of his pretensions
to the throne of Spain. It was at once resolved that communication with
Lisbon should henceforth be weekly instead of only once a fortnight, and
for this purpose less than five boats were deemed insufficient.
But of all the packet services in existence at the beginning of the
eighteenth century none perhaps possesses more features of interest than
the service to the West Indies. In James the Second's reign a Post
Office had been established in Jamaica, and rates of postage had been
settled not only within the island itself but between the island and the
mother country. This was a new departure. In the original scheme of
postage as propounded by Witherings no charge had been imposed except in
return for some service. The same principle had been scrupulously
adhered to in the Acts of 1657 and 1660. Under these Acts, except where
a service was rendered or where payment for a service was made to
another country, no charge was provided for. Yet between England and
Jamaica, although the Crown was not at the cost of maintaining means of
transport, postage rates were fixed of 6d. a single letter, 1s. a double
letter, and 2s. an ounce. This was a pure tax, and the precedent, bad as
it was and of questionable legality, was soon extended to the case of
letters to America.
The war of 1702, while deranging other services, called the service to
the West Indies into being. The West India merchants, a designation even
then in vogue, were a large and important body, and, as opportunities of
intercourse by private ship became rare and uncertain, a demand arose
for some established means of communication. With the assistance of
Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy, sloops were provided to carry mails to
the Plantation Islands, and by way of helping to defray the cost, the
postage rates were increased by about one-half. The vessels sailed at
uncertain intervals, but otherwise the service was performed with
regularity, the voyage out and home occupying from 90 to 116 days.
Dummer was so well satisfied with the result of his management that,
rather than continue as mere agent for the postmasters-general, he
desired to perform the service on his own account. For the sum of
L12,500 a year he undertook to provide a monthly communication, and for
this purpose to build and equip five boats of 140 tons each, and
carrying twenty-six men and ten guns. These boats were to have two
decks, and any of them that should be lost or taken by the enemy were to
be replaced at his own cost. Of the L12,500 no more than L4500 was to be
paid down. Freight, which was limited to five tons out and ten tons
home, passenger fares, and postage were to go in part payment, and from
these Dummer expected to make up the difference. Postage alone he set
down at L6000; and that it might produce this sum he made it an express
stipulation that the rates to the West Indies should be raised to the
same level as those to Portugal, namely 1s. 3d. a single letter, 2s. 6d.
a double letter, and 6s. an ounce. To double the postage, he took for
granted, was to double the returns. Abler men than he and men living
nearer to our own times have fallen into the same error; but seldom,
probably, has it been sooner or more strikingly exposed.
The new rates came into operation in England in March, and in the West
Indies in April. The effect of the alteration, as would now be predicted
with confidence, was only slightly to increase the amount of postage and
largely to reduce the number of letters. It is so seldom that in matters
of this kind cause and effect are brought into such close approximation,
that we offer no apology for giving the postage which the correspondence
produced immediately before and immediately after the change:--
_To the West Indies._
Date on which the Packet
sailed from England. Amount of Postage.
Jan. 25, 1705 L44 1 4
Feb. 22 " 59 10 7
Mar. 29 " 100 5 3 (New rates)
Apr. 26 " 129 2 6
May 31 " 93 7 9
June 28 " 75 19 3
July 26 " 62 2 0
_From the West Indies._
Date on which the Packet
arrived in England. Amount of Postage.
Feb. 10, 1705 L316 19 0
Apr. 18 " 622 11 6 (New rates)
Aug. 6 " 629 15 6
Sept. 3 " 384 19 6
Oct. 1 " 369 6 6
Of course, the mails immediately after the change would carry what may
be called surprised letters, letters which had been posted before the
issue of the new regulations or before these regulations had become
generally known; and the mail arriving in August would bring also the
letters which had accumulated since the preceding April.
What at the present time is calculated to excite surprise is not that
the aggregate amounts of postage should not have increased in proportion
to the rates, but that these amounts should have been as high as they
were. Trade with the West Indies was, no doubt, considerable. And yet,
after making ample allowance on that score, of what sort can the
correspondence have been to produce postage of between L300 and L400 by
a single mail; and why should the amount in one direction have been
nearly five times as heavy as the amount in the other? The answer, we
think, is to be found in a letter which the postmasters-general wrote
about this time. A small box for the Commissioners for the Sick and
Wounded had come from Lisbon charged with postage of L26:2s. From this
charge the Commissioners sought to be relieved on the ground that the
box contained nothing but office accounts, which, besides being of no
intrinsic value, were on Her Majesty's business. To such arguments,
however, the postmasters-general turned a deaf ear. With the contents of
the box they were not concerned. All they knew or cared to know was that
it weighed eighty-seven ounces, and this weight, at the rate of 6s. an
ounce, gave L26:2s. Forego the charge in the present instance, and how,
they asked, could charges be any longer maintained on other packets not
less on Her Majesty's business than this box, packets from the Prize
Office, the Salt Office, the Customs and the Navy, and also, they added,
on the large bundles of muster-rolls from the regiments stationed in the
West Indies? In short, we entertain little doubt that the postage by the
homeward mails was largely derived from official correspondence,
correspondence which at the present time bears no postage at all.
The good fortune which had attended Dummer while acting as manager for
the postmasters-general entirely deserted him as soon as the service
came into his own hands. During the first twelve months the postage fell
short of his expectations by about one-third; and freight and
passengers, which he had estimated to produce L2000, produced little
more than one-sixth of that amount. Nor was this the worst. The very
first packet that sailed under his contract was taken by the enemy.
Another, not many months later, was cast away on the rocks off the
Island of Inagua; and a third fell into the hands of a privateer in the
Channel. A series of disasters which would have daunted most men seems
only to have inspired Dummer with fresh energy. Of the ultimate success
of his undertaking he entertained no doubt. He held as strongly as we
can hold at the present day, that trade and correspondence act and react
upon each other; and that these should thrive he considered nothing more
to be necessary than speed and regularity of communication.[23] With
good heart, therefore, he applied himself to replace the boats which
had been lost, fully determined that on his part no efforts should be
wanting to supply the conditions on which alone he conceived success to
depend.
[23] "It being a certain maxim," he wrote to the postmasters-general on
the 15th of February 1707, "that as Trade is the producer of
correspondence, so trade is governed and influenced by the certainty and
quickness of correspondence."
The packet stations at this time were four in number. Dover was closed.
Harwich and Falmouth were in full activity. Holyhead was a mere home
station for the transmission of the Irish correspondence; and, the
service being under contract, suffice it to say that the mails to Dublin
went twice a week and were transported with marked regularity. Of the
Harwich and Falmouth stations, managed as they were by the
postmasters-general, we propose to give some account.
Each station was presided over by an agent, whose province it was to see
that the packets were properly equipped and victualled, to arrange the
order of sailing, to keep the captains to their duty, and generally to
maintain order and regularity among the unruly spirits of which the
establishment was composed. The outward mails, on their arrival from
London, were to be despatched, if for Holland or for Portugal,
immediately, and if for the West Indies, within two days; and, as soon
as they were put on board, weights were to be attached to them so that
they might be sunk at once if in danger of being taken by the enemy. So
important was this precaution held to be that, although enjoined in the
general instructions, it was continually insisted upon in particular
cases. "Be sure," write the postmasters-general to one of their agents,
"that before the captain sails, he prepares everything to sink the mail
in case he shall be attacked by the enemy that he can't avoid being
taken"; and to another, "We would have you take care to affix a
sufficient weight to the mail so soon as 'tis on board"; and to a third,
"We do not doubt but the mails will be ready slung with weights
sufficient to sink them in case of danger of falling into the enemy's
hands." Another rule to which the postmasters-general attached great
importance was that more than two mails were not to go by the same boat.
This rule, however, could not always be observed, for the boats had an
awkward habit of finding themselves on the wrong side, and, by the time
one had arrived, there was an accumulation of mails to be disposed of.
The inward mails, as soon as they reached the port of arrival, were
forwarded to London by express. From Harwich the letters for the Court,
or State letters,[24] as they were now beginning to be called, were sent
in advance of the ordinary mail, arrangements having been made at the
Brill to put these letters into a special bag by themselves. From
Falmouth, where no provision had been made for distinguishing one class
of correspondence from another, the same express carried the whole.
When, as was sometimes the case, packets of documents reached the port
unenclosed with the rest of the letters, these were to be chained to the
"grand mail"; and on the label was always to be inserted the number of
passengers that had arrived by the boat, so that the postmasters along
the line of road might know for how many persons they had to provide
horses. Between Falmouth and London the mails when sent express
travelled at the rate of about five miles an hour; and this speed
appears to have been regularly maintained. Expresses to carry a single
letter or a message, or to overtake the Lisbon mail, were continually
passing to and fro, and these of course went faster. From Harwich the
mails would sometimes reach London in eleven hours, being at the rate of
six and a half miles an hour; but on this line of road there was so much
irregularity that the time ordinarily occupied in the journey cannot be
stated with certainty.[25]
[24] In 1706, Court or State letters, for at this time the terms were
used indiscriminately, were defined to be letters directed to "the
Queen, His Royal Highness the Prince, the Lord High Treasurer, and the
two principal Secretarys of State and their clarks." Sometimes, but more
rarely, they were called "Queen's letters."
[25] Here is one among many similar complaints addressed by the
postmasters-general to the packet agent at Harwich: "We admire to find
the two Bags with the States letters brought over by the Prince and
Dispatch which arrived at Harwich June 21st at 7 in the morning should
not be dispatcht till 10 the same day; as also at the comeing in of the
Mayls, one of which being dispatcht at 12 arrived here at 11 at night,
yet the other came not till 7 next morning."
The seamen on board the packets were paid in no case more than 30s. a
month and generally less; but the employment carried with it one great
advantage. This was exemption from impressment. Even the carpenters
hired to do odd jobs when the boats were in harbour were furnished with
protection orders.[26] Partly on this ground, and partly, no doubt, on
account of the gains to be derived from contraband traffic, admission to
the packet service appears to have been eagerly sought. At one time,
indeed, it threatened to become a matter of patronage; but the
consequences of a first step in that direction effectually prevented
another. The _Godolphin_ packet had been taken and carried by the enemy
into St. Malo. Her captain, a brave and experienced officer, did not
hesitate to attribute the loss of his vessel to sheer cowardice on the
part of the crew. One, at the first shot that was fired, had run down to
the doctor and declared that he was wounded, whereas no sign of a wound
was to be found upon him; another had taken shelter behind the mainmast;
a third had been heard to declare that he would not hazard the loss of
his little finger to save the packet. This conduct, as unprecedented as
it was scandalous, led to a searching investigation, when it transpired
that the so-called sailors were, many of them, no sailors at all, but
mere landlubbers who had been taken on out of complaisance to the local
gentry.
[26] The following is a specimen of the protection order given:--
To all Commanders and Officers of our Shipps, Pressmasters and others
whome it may concerne.
JAMES R.
You are not to imprest into our service any of the six persons hereunder
named belonging to the Jane of Dover, whereof Richard Moone is master,
the said vessell being employed in our service as a pacquett boate at
Dover. Given at our Court at Whitehall the 6th of October 1688.
By His Majesty's Command.
PEPYS
1. Anth. Deleau.
2. Jasper Moore.
3. David Williams.
4. Pet. Foster.
5. Dennis Matthew.
6. Wm. Ambross.
Each packet boat carried its own surgeon. A surgeon was also provided
for the care of the sick on shore. This medical supervision was
remunerated by means of a capitation allowance, an allowance of so much
per head; but whereas it would now be in respect to all persons under
the surgeon's charge, whether well or ill, it was then only in respect
to those that were ill--1s. a day for each sick person and 6s. 8d. for
each cure--a mode of payment which did not perhaps conduce to a speedy
recovery. To provide for casualties, a fund was established, towards the
support of which each seaman contributed 10d. a month out of his pay. If
he were killed in action, provision was made for his widow, and, if he
were wounded, he received a small annuity or, as it was called, Smart
and Bounty money, the amount of which was nicely apportioned to the
nature of his injury. Thus--
For each arm or leg amputated above the elbow
or knee he would receive L8 0 0 a year.
For each arm or leg amputated below the elbow
or knee 6 13 4 "
For the loss of the sight of one eye 4 0 0 "
For the loss of the pupil of the eye 5 0 0 "
For the loss of the sight of both eyes 12 0 0 "
For the loss of the pupils of both eyes 14 0 0 "
It is a ghastly bill of fare; and yet the sailors laid great store by
it. On one occasion, indeed, until assured that the transfer of a boat
to Dummer's management would not affect their claim to these annuities,
they absolutely refused to go to sea.
With few exceptions, no passenger was allowed on board a packet boat
without a pass from the Secretary of State. The exceptions were
shipwrecked seamen, recruits, and officers in charge of recruits.
Shipwrecked seamen went free, free from any charge for passage-money or
for maintenance. Recruits and officers in charge of recruits not being
above the rank of lieutenant were charged for maintenance but not for
passage-money. All others, though furnished with a passport, paid or
were expected to pay for both.
Of these rules, however, there would seem to have been no public
announcement, and this led to constant dispute and bickerings. An
interesting event was expected in one of the many English families
which at this time flocked to the Court of Portugal, and Dr. Crichton
was despatched to Lisbon with a cow. Furnished with a pass by the
Secretary of State he stoutly maintained his right to a free passage;
and this right the postmaster-general as stoutly disputed. Nor, assuming
the right to exist, could they conceal their surprise that under the
circumstances it should have been claimed. To demur to a paltry charge
of L4 indeed! Was it not notorious that for his mission to Portugal he
was to receive L1000? Lord Charlemont with a number of attendants had
crossed from Lisbon to Falmouth. The passage-money had been paid, and,
pleased with his entertainment, he desired to gratify the captain. The
captain's answer was to present a bill shewing what the entertainment
had cost, and, on payment being refused, he detained some valuable silks
which Lord Charlemont had consigned to his care. Lord Charlemont, on his
arrival in London, at once proceeded to Lombard Street and complained of
this treatment, when he learned for the first time that the
passage-money, which he had supposed to cover everything, was simply the
Queen's due, and that his entertainment had been provided at the
captain's own cost.
Even the packet agents themselves appear to have been insufficiently
instructed. On one occasion the Queen's domestic servants on their
return from Lisbon, whither they had been despatched in attendance on
the Archduke Charles, were allowed to pass free. On another,
passage-money was omitted to be collected from some workmen who had been
sent to Portugal by the Board of Ordnance. In both cases the act of
their subordinate was repudiated by the postmasters-general. Proper as
it might be that the Queen's domestic servants should have their passage
provided--was this to be done at the expense of the Post Office? Forego
payment in this instance, and where were they to stop? They must press
their demand; and the demand was eventually satisfied. From the Board of
Ordnance they did not even attempt to recover, aware probably of the
futility of any such step; but the act of their agent in letting the
workmen pass free evoked an earnest remonstrance. Does not the Board of
Ordnance, they asked, charge us for the very powder we use; and yet,
forsooth, you take upon yourself to give to their workmen a free
passage. "Every office," they added--and the maxim might still, perhaps,
be observed with advantage--"ought to keep its own accompt distinct."
But it was with officers of the army who were continually passing to and
fro that the most frequent disputes arose. They apparently did not
understand, and possibly the Post Office might have had some difficulty
in explaining, why lieutenants in charge of recruits should be exempt
from payment of fare and not officers of higher rank when employed on
similar business; or why indeed officers engaged in fighting their
country's battles should not have a free passage on board Her Majesty's
packets. It had been the custom not to collect the fares until the end
of the voyage; but it was found that, the voyage once accomplished,
payment of the fares was not uncommonly refused. Accordingly it was
determined that they should be collected beforehand, and that no officer
not being a recruiting officer and producing a certificate to that
effect should be received on board on trust. Recourse was thereupon had
to every sort of artifice in order to evade payment. Officers above the
rank of lieutenant would represent themselves as being of that rank, and
they would even enrol their own servants as recruits to make it appear
that they were engaged in recruiting business.
Through Harwich, now that Dover was closed, lay the only route to the
Continent; and among the passengers frequenting this route were some to
whom, for one reason or another, special attention was given. Baron
Hompesch and Brigadier-General Cadogan are on their way to Holland. The
packet is to be detained "till Thursday noon, at which time they think
to reach Harwich." M. Rosenerantz, the Danish envoy, is returning to his
own country. No passengers are to be admitted on board until he and his
suite have been accommodated. A Queen's messenger is coming with "one
Castello," who is in custody. This person is to be made over to the
captain of the packet that sails next, and on arrival at the Brill is to
be set on shore. Dirick Wolters is expected from Holland, if indeed he
be not already arrived and secreted in Harwich. No pains are to be
spared to discover and apprehend him, and to secure the sealed box he
carries "directed to a person of note in London."
Goods, like passengers, were not allowed to be carried by the packets
without the express permission of the Secretary of State; and this
permission was seldom given except in the case of presents to royal
personages and of articles for the use of persons of note residing
abroad. Hence, such things as the following were being continually
consigned to the care of the postmasters-general, with a request that
they might be forwarded by the next boat:--
Fifteen couple of dogs for the King of the Romans.
Necessaries for Her Majesty the Queen-Dowager's service at Lisbon.
Three pounds of tea from Lady Arlington for the use of Her Majesty
the Queen-Dowager of England.
Two cases of trimming for the King of Spain's liveries.
Two bales of stockings for the use of the Portuguese Ambassador.
Three suits of clothes for some nobleman's ladies at the Court of
Portugal.
A box of medicines for the use of the Earl of Galway.
As the packets and everything on board of them were exempt from
examination by the Customs authorities, there are no means of knowing
how far a pass, where a pass had been obtained, was confined to its
ostensible object. But it is impossible not to entertain suspicions on
the subject. On one occasion the Portuguese envoy obtained permission to
send by the packet six cases, which he certified to contain arms for the
use of his Sovereign. The lightness of the packages when brought to the
scale excited suspicion, and on examination they were found to contain
not arms but dutiable goods. To a tradesman at Truro, in exception to
rule, a pass had been granted which authorised him to send by the Lisbon
packet ten tons of hats. Ten tons weight of hats, or what purported to
be hats, had long been exported, and yet more and more hats were being
regularly despatched by every packet.
But although without passes goods and passengers were prohibited on
board the packets, it is certain that the prohibition was habitually
infringed. The packet agents' instructions were to keep a record of the
names and quality of all passengers, and to transmit a copy to London.
Even if this were a complete and faithful record, the postmasters-general
could not know that each passenger had produced his pass. The
Secretaries of State, however, appear to have possessed some means
of information unknown to the Post Office, and, in the matter of
passengers, they were continually complaining of the regulations being
broken. At one time it is Mr. Joseph Percival, a merchant of Lisbon, who
comes over without a passport--which, from the tenor of Lord
Sunderland's letter, the postmasters-general apprehend to be "an affair
of moment." At another it is a Mr. Jackson who, also without a passport,
crosses from Harwich to Holland. In this case Mr. Secretary Boyle
affirms that the packet agent received a bribe of two guineas. To let
passengers come by the Harwich packets without passports, he declares
later on, has become a common practice.
In the matter of goods the evidence of irregularity is still stronger.
Captain Culverden of the _Queen_ packet boat brings into Falmouth
thirty-six bags and seven baskets of salt, and there lands it
clandestinely. Captain Rogers smuggles over twenty bags and one cask of
the same material. Captain Urin from the West Indies makes Plymouth
instead of Falmouth. Stress of weather is pleaded in excuse; but the
postmasters-general feel sure that he might have made Falmouth, had he
not "had private instructions otherwise." "We are uneasie," they say,
"thus to find the West India boats for the most part driven to Plymouth,
or to Liverpool or some port contrary to what is prescribed by our
instructions."
But of all the captains there was none who in the audacity of his
proceedings equalled Francis Clies. Clies had recently succeeded his
father in the command of the _Expedition_ packet boat. On his very first
voyage home from Lisbon he was much behind time, having according to his
own account been driven upon the coast of Ireland. On his second voyage
he was later still. The time of his arrival at Falmouth had long passed,
and serious apprehensions began to be entertained for his safety. At
length a letter came from him dated at Kinsale, explaining that want of
provisions had obliged him to put in there. "We have," wrote the
postmasters-general, "very impatiently expected the arrival of the
_Expedition_, which has been very long wanting, and are much concerned
to find the second voyage even more tedious than the first; but are glad
to find her at last safe arrived." "We would know," they added, "for how
many days provisions had been put on board, and whether the _Expedition_
sails not as well as formerly." Before a reply could be received to this
pertinent inquiry, the Commissioners of Customs had lodged at the Post
Office a formal complaint, in which Captain Clies was charged with
bringing over from Ireland several bales of friezes and other woollen
manufactures. The postmasters-general were deeply shocked. Not only was
this a breach of the packet boat regulations, but to transport goods
from what would now be one part of the United Kingdom to another was at
that time prohibited by law under heavy penalties. If this charge be
proved, they wrote to their packet agent at Falmouth, "we shall not be
much to seek why the captain should be two succeeding voyages forced
upon the coast of Ireland, when we have not had above one instance of
that kind besides himself during this war." Narrow as was Clies's escape
on this occasion, not four months elapsed before the postmasters-general
were again condoling with him on another "very tedious voyage."
It may here be mentioned, as an instance of the inconsistency of human
nature, that, although the packets were not provided with chaplains,
there were two boats on board of which prayers were regularly said
every morning and evening, and that of these two boats the _Expedition_
was one.
Outwards as well as inwards the packet boats were, at the beginning of
the eighteenth century, carrying goods in defiance of regulation and of
law. Sir Paul Methuen, the author of the famous Commercial Treaty which
bears his name, was at that time our ambassador to Portugal. His
attention had been arrested by the large quantities of merchandise which
the packet boats were continually bringing over from England, and in
1705 he made to the postmasters-general a formal representation on the
subject. "In Lisbon," he stated, "there is a public market for English
goods as often as the boats come in." Nor was the allegation denied by
the persons implicated. They must, they said, live somehow. And this
plea, generally the refuge of the idle and worthless, had in it in the
present instance more force than might at first be supposed. The crews
of the packets were paid only once in six months, and, as a check upon
their conduct, six months' pay was always kept in arrear. Thus, before
receiving any pay at all they had to work twelve months, and even at the
expiration of twelve months there was not always money at hand with
which to pay them.
At Harwich, there can be no doubt, the same malpractices were going on
as at Falmouth; but, owing to the almost unequalled facilities which the
east coast affords for clandestine traffic, detection less speedily
followed. In the movements of the packet boats there was much that was
mysterious. Their frequent disappearance for long periods together when
the wind was blowing from the quarter most favourable to their return,
and their occasional punctuality when the wind was contrary and they
were least expected, involved a contradiction which the
postmasters-general found it hard to reconcile. "In our whole
experience," they wrote to the packet agent on the 3rd of October 1704,
"the passage of the mails was never so unconstant as it has been this
last year." "You must be very sensible what reproach we have been
brought under" in consequence. The ink was hardly dry on their pen
before information reached them that on the 2nd of the month two packet
boats had returned to Harwich, of which one had been gone since the 10th
and the other since the 19th of September. Meanwhile the winds had been
fair, and had carried out the men-of-war and transports from Spithead.
"We have writ you so often," wrote the postmasters-general to the
laggard captains, "upon these neglects of yours," and you have paid so
little regard to our admonitions, that "you may expect to find when too
late that we are not to be trifled with." The effect of this caution, if
effect it had, was of short duration. "We are," they wrote only a few
months later, "under a perpetual uneasiness and distrust," on account of
the irregularity of the Harwich boats. "Our reputation has very much
suffered in consequence, and we are looked upon at Court as remiss in
our duty." Hitherto we have ever been ready to "take any appearance of
reason or probability to excuse the commanders, but do now, having had
these frequent provocations so often repeated, resolve to do justice to
ourselves, and to have no other regard than the merit of the service."
"Pray make inquiries," they say on another occasion, when no less than
three boats are unaccountably behind time. It is of no use writing to
Mr. Vanderpoel, "for he always favours the captains' pretences." Mr.
Vanderpoel was packet agent at the Brill. He had stood high in William's
favour, and was still drawing an allowance of L100 a year which, as an
act of grace, that King had bestowed upon him in addition to his salary.
"When we last waited on the Lord High Treasurer and Secretary of State,"
wrote the postmasters-general again on the 14th of June 1705, "we found
them in their former opinion that there must be some secret more than
ordinary that the boats should so frequently when least expected make
their passage, and when the winds have in all appearance been most
favourable, the mails then most delayed." A secret no doubt there was;
but, profoundly dissatisfied as the postmasters-general were, no
suspicion appears to have crossed their minds that the packet boats were
engaged in other and more exciting pursuits than the transport of
mails.
The captains of the packet boats were strictly forbidden to give chase.
Their instructions were to fight, if fight they must, to avoid fighting
wherever possible, and in no case to go in quest of adventure. In the
case of the Falmouth boats, carrying as they did a considerable number
of men and of guns, there can be little doubt that the prohibition was
habitually infringed. Even Cotton and Frankland, with all their
credulity, would seem to have entertained suspicions on the point; and
yet when notice was given them that a fat prize had been captured, their
instincts as Englishmen prevailed, and with a chuckle of satisfaction
they would accept the result of their servants' prowess without too
minutely inquiring into the circumstances under which that result had
been achieved. "Well done," they would say in effect. "We heartily
congratulate you. It has indeed been a tedious voyage; but of course you
did not pursue. This, as you are aware, would be contrary to our
instructions, which are to do nothing that might retard or endanger Her
Majesty's mails. We shall make known your gallantry to the Lord High
Treasurer, and move His Royal Highness the Prince to bestow on you some
signal mark of favour." The Prince was at this time Lord High Admiral,
and the captains of the packet boats having only sailing commissions,
were not, like the captains in the Royal Navy and the commanders of
letters of marque, entitled as of right to the prizes they took. These
were the perquisites of the Lord High Admiral, and were by him resigned
to the Queen.
When a prize was captured, it was seldom taken in tow. This would have
retarded the progress of the mails. The practice was for the two
captains, the victor and the vanquished, to agree upon the amount of
ransom, and to give and receive bills for the amount, one or more
hostages being taken as security for payment. The agreement was reduced
to writing and made out in duplicate, so that each captain might have a
copy, and it set forth where and to whom the money was to be paid. As a
rule, the conditions appear to have been honourably observed. Some few
exceptions, no doubt, there were. In 1708 the _James_ packet was
captured, and, after the amount of ransom had been inserted in the
agreement, the French captain fraudulently altered the figures. A still
worse case occurred on the English side. The _Prince_ packet boat
captured a vessel which was ransomed for 2500 pieces of eight.[27] This
vessel, as it afterwards transpired, was plundered both before and after
the ransom was agreed upon; and, more than this, the English captain
refused or neglected to give her a protection order, the consequence
being that, subsequently falling in with some merchant ships, she was
taken and plundered again. But these were exceptions, and it is some
satisfaction to know that the last-mentioned captain was soon driven out
of the service.[28]
[27] Equal to L562:10s.
[28] This captain had long been noted for his truculent conduct. Here is
a letter which the postmasters-general had written to him two or three
years before:--
GENERAL POST OFFICE, _May 13, 1704_.
CAPTAIN CHENAL--We received the mail from Portugal brought over by you
in the _Mansbridge_ packet boat which arriv'd here on Wednesday last. We
yesterday received your letter and journal of the said voyage, with the
certificate from the sailors who remained in the service the last
voyage. We are concern'd to find such differences among persons imploy'd
under us, but do think the best way to compose them is to advise every
one to mind their proper business and duty. We do think you may keep all
your officers and sailors to strict duty without so rugged a treatment
as is complain'd of. As we are desirous of good discipline, so are we of
good agreement, to which we would have our agent and yourself to
contribute your endeavours.
We herewith send you a specimen of a method to keep an abstract of your
journal by which you would save yourself and us much trouble by
observing.--We are, your loving friends,
R. COTTON.
T. FRANKLAND.
Pending payment of the ransom, the hostages were kept in prison.
Ordinarily, their confinement was not of long duration; and if we cite
an instance to the contrary, it is because it aptly illustrates the
rough-and-ready sort of justice which was administered in those days.
Clies, the captain of the _Expedition_, after many desperate
engagements in which he had come off victorious, had been forced at last
to strike his colours. Four French men-of-war had surrounded him, and
having lost his masts, he had no choice but to yield. The ransom agreed
upon was L550, and as security for payment of this amount the master of
the _Expedition_ and Clies's son, who was a midshipman on board the same
vessel, were taken as hostages. This was in February, and they did not
return to England until November. Meanwhile they had been imprisoned at
Cadiz, where they endured the severest privations. Cold and damp and the
want of the common necessaries of life, while affecting the health of
both, had permanently disabled the master and brought him to the point
of death. This appeared to the postmasters-general to be a case for
compensation. And yet whence was compensation to come? They were not
long in solving the question. It was a mere accident, they argued, that
these particular hostages had been selected. The selection might have
fallen upon any others of the ship's company. Yet these others had been
receiving their pay and enjoying their liberty. Surely it was for them
to compensate those at whose cost they had themselves escaped captivity
and its attendant horrors. Accordingly the ship's company were mulcted
in a whole month's pay, amounting to L118, of which sum the midshipman
received L20 and the master L98; and the decision appears to have evoked
neither murmur nor remonstrance.
In one respect the two packet stations were conducted on different
principles. At Falmouth the agent was also victualler. At Harwich
victuals and all other necessaries were provided by the Post Office.
Neither plan was entirely free from objection. Where the agent was
victualler, he naturally desired to make what he could out of his
contract; and hence arose frequent complaints from the seamen as to both
the quantity and quality of their food. Nor were such undertakings well
adapted to those days of violent fluctuations of prices. The years 1709
and 1710 were years of scarcity, during which the cost of all
provisions was nearly doubled. Fortunately, when the first of these
years arrived, the packet agent's contract to victual for a daily
allowance of 7d. a head had just expired, or the consequences to him or
to the seamen must have been disastrous. But, from a public point of
view, the chief drawback to the union of the offices of agent and
victualler was that the victualling arrangements were apt to interfere
with the movements of the boats. The _Prince_ packet boat was due to
start on a particular day, and to an inquiry whether she would not be
ready, the answer which the postmasters-general received was, "No; our
beer is not yet brewed."
At Harwich the inconvenience of a contrary system, a system under which
the Post Office undertook its own victualling, was illustrated in a
striking manner. There no bill for provisions represented what the
provisions had really cost. To the actual cost was habitually added a
further sum, which, under the name of percentages, went into the pockets
of those by whom the order had been given. Of the extent to which these
overcharges were carried we are not informed in the particular case of
victuals; but other cases in which information is given will perhaps
serve as a guide. Holland-duck for the use of the packet boats was
brought over from Holland freight-free. Yet in Harwich the Post Office
was charged for it 2s. 2d. a yard. In London a yard of the same
material, freight included, cost 2s. In London the price of 1 cwt. of
cordage was 30s.; in Harwich it was 40s. For piloting a packet boat from
Harwich to the Downs the Post Office was charged L7. Inquiry at the
Admiralty elicited that for ships of the same size belonging to the
Royal Navy the charge never exceeded L3:15s. The plain truth seems to be
that both at Harwich and at Falmouth the packet agents were in the power
of the captains, and the captains in the power of the packet agents, and
that they all combined to impose upon the postmasters-general.
Of the number of letters which the Harwich and Falmouth packets carried
we know little or nothing. In the one case we have absolutely no
information. In the other there remains on record a single letter-bill
applicable to a particular voyage. Of this letter-bill we will only
observe that, for reasons immaterial to the present purpose, it became
the subject of a good deal of correspondence, and it is not unreasonable
to suppose that, had the number of letters entered in it been much above
or much below the average, the point could hardly have escaped remark.
The document is as follows:--
28 April 1705.
Received on board the _Prince_ Packet Boat the following Packets
and letters.
Zech: Rogers ... Commander.
From my Lord Ambassador ... a Bag of Letters directed to Mr.
Jones.[29]
Sixteen Packetts and letters for Her Majestie's Service.
From the King of Spain ... a very large Packett.
For London and Holland ... Double and Single letters ... Two
hundred and ninety six.
Thirteen Packetts Do.
Devonshire letters ... Double and Single ... Twenty nine ... and
three Packetts.
For Falmouth ... Double and Single letters ... six.
Two mails for London.
Outward-bound.
No Passengers.
Homeward-bound.
One English Merchant.
Three Dutch Gentlemen.
Four poor sailors discharged from Her Majestie's Ship _Antelope_
being incapable for the Service.
[29] The packet agent at Falmouth.
There were persons who thought that the packet boats might well be
employed to do something more than carry to and fro a mere handful of
letters. Among those who held this opinion was Colonel Stanwix. He
contended that the Lisbon packets should be required to carry not only
the mails, but recruits for the English forces in Portugal. By transport
the fixed charge for each recruit was L4. This expense would be saved to
the public, and the regiments would receive additions to their strength
not fitfully, but at regular intervals. Subject to certain conditions,
the postmasters-general resolved to give the plan a trial. The
conditions were that not more than fifty recruits should go in one boat,
and that, instead of passing free, as Colonel Stanwix had proposed, they
should be charged L1 apiece--that is, 10s. for victualling, and 10s. for
freight. The experiment was attended with deplorable results. It was
midwinter. The recruits had been huddled together in Pendennis Castle,
under a strong guard, to prevent desertion. Half-naked and only half-fed
they were led or driven to the boat, and hardly were they on board
before the distemper broke out among them. Many fell victims to it; many
others, on arrival at Lisbon, were carried to the hospital, and even the
strongest among them were barely able to stagger ashore. The return
voyage was hardly less disastrous. The crew now took the disease, and as
they lay dying and dead upon the deck, a vessel of French build was to
be seen bearing down upon them. Resistance in the circumstances was out
of the question, and nothing remained but to save the guns. These, ten
in number, were with difficulty thrown overboard, and no sooner was the
task accomplished than the vessel, which had by this time come within
speaking distance, proved to be Her Majesty's ship _Assurance_.
The liberty allowed to the Royal Navy to employ for its own purposes
prizes taken at sea did not extend to the packet service. The Post
Office was forbidden, under severe penalties, to use foreign bottoms.
Often had convenience and economy to yield to the stern dictates of the
law. Now it is a French shallop, admirably adapted for a packet boat,
which has to be discarded simply because it is French; and now an
express to Lisbon is on the point of being delayed because the regular
packets are on the wrong side, and the only boat to be hired in Falmouth
is not English built.
On the 20th of September 1707 the Queen, attended by her Court, set out
for Newmarket. In this visit there was nothing unusual, but it will
serve as well as any other to demonstrate that the close connection
which had once subsisted between the posts and the Crown was not yet
completely severed. In attendance upon his royal mistress was
Court-post. This office, to which appointment was made by patent, had
until lately been held by Sir Thomas Dereham. Court-post's duty was to
carry letters between the Court and the nearest stage or post-town, a
duty deemed so arduous that his stipend had been recently doubled, and
now stood at L365 a year. At Newmarket and at Windsor, indeed, he had no
long distance to traverse, these towns being post-towns; but when the
Court was in London or at Hampton his journey was longer. In London he
had to carry the letters between Kensington or Whitehall and Lombard
Street; and when at Hampton, Hampton not being a post-town, he had to
carry them to and from Kingston.
Besides Court-post there was now in the royal train the comptroller of
the London sorting office, William Frankland, son of one of the
postmasters-general. What Frankland's precise functions were we are not
informed, but he was, in the language of the time, "in attendance on Her
Majesty in the care of her letters." At Harwich, as soon as the mail
arrived from Holland, the seals of the bags were to be broken, and the
letters for the Court to be picked out and sent to Newmarket by express.
This was, in effect, to establish a cross-post at a time when
cross-posts did not exist. Moments, which would now be judged precious,
appear to have been then of little account. Of the letters before they
left Harwich the addresses were to be copied; and on arrival at
Newmarket the express was to take them, not to the Palace, but to the
Post Office, whither they were to be addressed under cover to Frankland.
The Post Office once reached, how Frankland and Court-post were to
adjust their respective duties is a point as obscure as it is, perhaps,
unimportant. At the present day, when the palace possesses no postal
facilities which are not enjoyed by the cottage, a single provision in
the Statute-book is all that is left to remind us that at one time the
posts were centred in the Sovereign. This provision, in exception to the
practice which jealously excludes the Sovereign's name from all parts
of an Act of Parliament except, indeed, the preamble, prescribes that
the posts shall be settled, not as the Secretary of State or the Lords
Commissioners of the Treasury may direct, but according to the
directions of Her Majesty. To Her Majesty alone the law still leaves the
supreme control over the posts, although it may well be believed that
the ministers would claim to act on her behalf.[30]
[30] The provision is as follows: "And for the better management of the
Post Office, be it enacted that the postmaster-general shall observe
such orders and instructions concerning the settlement of Posts and
stages upon the several roads, Cross roads, and Byeways within the
United Kingdom and other Her Majesty's Dominions, as Her Majesty shall
from time to time give in that behalf."--1 Vic. cap. xxxiii. sec. 8.
After the battle of Ramillies, which put the Confederates in possession
of Ostend, the packet service between England and Flanders, which had
been suspended four years before, was re-established. The result
disappointed expectations. The Government appear to have thought that it
was only necessary to revive the service and the correspondence would at
once resume its old proportions. But meanwhile the letters from Flanders
to England had found a new channel. No sooner had Ostend been closed
than they were diverted through Holland. To reverse this arrangement,
involving as it would a readjustment of the internal posts, must, in any
case, have been a work of time; and it was a work on which the Flemish
authorities were little likely to embark so long as the neighbourhood of
Ostend or any considerable portion of it remained in the enemy's hands.
Of all this the postmasters-general were perfectly well aware, and they
can have felt no disappointment that, on the first reopening of the
Ostend route, the letters passing that way were extremely few; but the
ministers, who had not the postmaster-generals' experience to guide
them, grew impatient with a service which was maintained at heavy cost,
and produced little or no return. Accordingly, having restored the
service in June, they discontinued it in August; and no sooner were the
boats dispersed than orders were given to restore it again.
This sudden change of purpose, we think there can be little doubt, was
due to the influence of the Duke of Marlborough, who began about this
time to take a lively interest in the postal communication with
Flanders. Though not surprised at the meagreness of the correspondence,
the postmasters-general were little prepared to find that, after the
Confederates became masters of Ostend, the passage between that port and
Dover would be even less safe than it had been before. Yet such was the
case. The Flemish seamen, no longer able to obtain employment at home,
flocked across the French border and joined with their foes of yesterday
in preying upon the English shipping. As a consequence the Channel now
swarmed with privateers. On the 25th of January a Dover packet, named
_Ostend_ after the port to which she ran, was taken by a Nieuport
privateer of ten guns and eighty men. The captain who brought this
intelligence had himself had a narrow escape. Five privateers had
extended themselves from Nieuport to Ostend in order to intercept him,
and, after a sharp engagement, in which he was nearly captured, had
forced him to make Harwich.
In this conjuncture the postmasters-general acted with remarkable
energy, but with little regard to what would now be considered official
propriety. Not content with making representations to the Secretary of
State, they wrote direct to the English ambassador at the Hague,
desiring him to urge upon the States of Flanders and Brabant the
necessity of at once fitting out three or four ships of the Ostend
squadron, with the twofold object of recalling the seamen to their duty
and of clearing the coast. They at the same time waited upon M. Van
Vrybergh, the envoy extraordinary from the States-General to the Court
of St. James', and exacted from him a promise that he would exercise his
influence in the same direction. But relief was soon to come, and from
an unexpected quarter. Lewis the Fourteenth, by way of creating a
diversion in the Netherlands, resolved to assist the Pretender in making
a descent upon Scotland, and with this view he assembled a squadron
before Dunkirk. England had no choice but to follow suit. Within an
incredibly short space of time she equipped a fleet, and this fleet,
under the command of Sir George Byng, left Deal for Dunkirk in the
spring of 1708. How the Pretender evaded Byng, and how Byng pursued the
Pretender and frustrated his object, are matters of history; but what
concerns us at the present moment is that, before starting in pursuit,
Byng detached a squadron for the purpose of bringing over some of the
English troops which were about to be embarked at Ostend. It is probable
that this squadron, after its immediate object had been accomplished,
remained in or about the Channel, for after this time we hear no more of
depredations on the Post Office packets.
Experience shews that there is a class, and not an inconsiderable class,
of persons who, in time of war, find it hard to reconcile themselves to
the pursuits of peace. John Macky, the packet agent at Dover, was one of
these. The proximity of the battle-field, its easy access from Dover,
and the stirring accounts arriving by every packet fired his imagination
and filled him with martial ardour. Under the influence of this
excitement he addressed a memorial to the postmasters-general, praying
that he might be commissioned to go over to Flanders and settle posts
for the army. This application he appears to have supported by the most
unfortunate arguments. He urged not that it was a thing in itself
reasonable and proper that the army should have posts of its own, and
that his experience might be useful in establishing them, but that at
Dover, though his salary was comparatively high, he had little or
nothing to do, and that the commission for which he asked would give him
employment more congenial to his tastes. The postmasters-general could
not conceal their astonishment at the audacity of the proposal and the
grounds on which it was based. "We were never before made sensible,"
they wrote, "that the business of the agent to the packet boats at Dover
was so very inconsiderable as you have represented it to be, nor do we
think that for so inconsiderable a business so high a salary can be
needed." "We can only say," they added, "that if the present allowance
be too much for the work, or if the employ be too mean for your
expectations, we doubt not but that we shall be able to find those who
will thankfully accept the post with an allowance that is much less."
But Macky's restlessness was not to be subdued by a mere admonition. As
he could not prevail on the postmasters-general to send him to Flanders
on official business, he asked to be allowed to go on his own account.
This permission they readily gave, accompanying it, however, with a
remarkable caution. "We must expect," they said, "that you do not
intermeddle in any ways upon the business of the Flanders
correspondence, or enter into any sort of treaty for the port of letters
or jobbing of places which may bring us under any inconveniencys or our
authority under any disreputation. We expect you take particular caution
of these matters and wish you a good journey."
Within four months from the date of this caution Macky's relations to
the Post Office had greatly altered. To the position of packet agent he
now added that of contractor, having undertaken himself to provide for
the Dover and Ostend service. For the sum of L2000 a year he was to
supply four boats between twenty and thirty tons each, and to be at all
risks from sea and enemy. One effect of this arrangement, by which Macky
the contractor was to be controlled by Macky the packet agent, was to
prolong his visit to Flanders. Under the pretext of keeping the captains
to their duty he remained there until March or April 1708, when he
returned to England, after an absence of eight or nine months. Meanwhile
the packets to Ostend, like those to Holland and to Portugal, had been
engaged in illicit practices. According to a complaint received from the
Commissioners of Customs immediately before Macky's return, clandestine
traffic was being systematically carried on, and the very last boat that
had arrived had brought parcels of lace concealed in the flap of the
mail. The postmasters-general were deeply annoyed. "Let this go on,"
they exclaimed, "and the mails themselves will be searched, to the great
scandal of the office and of our management."
We have been thus particular in recording Macky's movements, because in
connection with the service under his control an incident now occurred
which brought the Post Office into serious discredit. The
postmasters-general, in virtue of their office, which gave them control
over the communications of the country, were in the habit of receiving
priority of intelligence; and this at a time when intelligence travelled
slowly and the means of disseminating it did not exist or existed only
in the rudest form. Hence they acquired an importance which the mere
office of postmaster-general, as that office is now understood, would
not have conferred. An interest attached to them as to men who were
reputed to possess exclusive information. They were welcome at Court,
and not only welcome but often anxiously expected. Indeed, to act as
purveyor of news to the Court had come to be regarded as one and by no
means the least important of their duties; and with a view to its more
effectual discharge their agents throughout the country had standing
orders to send to headquarters the earliest intimation of any remarkable
event that might happen in their locality. When any one of these persons
was venturesome enough to send to his chiefs a present, the thanks he
received were of the coldest,--"We thank you for the snuff," or, "We
thank you for the port wine," and then was pretty sure to follow a sharp
rebuke for some trifling irregularity, which, except for the present,
would probably have passed unnoticed. But when a piece of news was sent,
the thanks were warm and hearty; and woe betide the unfortunate agent
who had news to send and omitted to send it. "We observe you give us no
advice of the fleet under Sir George Byng being seen off Falmouth the
28th, tho' we saw letters from Falmouth which advised thereof. We are
desirous to have the first advice of any remarkable news." "We received
two Flanders mails on Sunday morning, and therewith your letter of the
5th advising of the Duke of Marlborough's being arrived at Flushing, for
which account we thank you." "We do heartily congratulate your safe
return, and do thank you for being so full and particular in the
advices you have given us of what occurrences have come to your
knowledge." "We are obliged to you for the news of the Nassau and
Burford's prizes of which we had received advice before by some galleys
from Gibraltar, and for your kind promise of communicating to us any
considerable occurrences that may happen in your parts." "We thank you
for sending us an account of all news and remarkable occurrences in your
letters which we desire may be sent in the mails or annext to the
labels." "We cannot but take very ill the captain's conduct on this
occasion, for Mr. Bowen's intentions in sending his son over to bring so
great a piece of news as that of the victory[31] to us ought to be
esteemed as a great piece of civility, and, if the captain had not
refused to sail when Mr. Bowen pressed him, we might have had the
satisfaction of carrying the first account of that victory."
[31] The victory at Oudenarde. Who Mr. Bowen was we are not informed.
It was in the early summer of 1709, when this greed after news was at
its height, that intelligence of vast import to the country was expected
to arrive in London. Preliminaries of peace, after being arranged in
Flanders, had been forwarded to Paris for confirmation. Would the King
sign them? Or must the war which had already lasted more than six years
be continued? A period of anxious suspense followed. The exhaustion of
France, and the humiliating terms which were sought to be imposed upon
her, made it certain that there would be neither ready acceptance nor
ready rejection; and yet the latest date had passed on which a decision
was expected and none had arrived. London was in a fever of expectation.
Each mail from Ostend, as it reached the Post Office in Lombard Street,
was eagerly seized and opened. The month of May was drawing to a close.
On Saturday the 28th there was not only no news but no mail. Sunday came
and, to the consternation of the postmasters-general, there was still no
mail. The wind was in the right quarter. At Harwich the packets from
Holland were arriving regularly. What could hinder the passage from
Ostend? At length on Monday the 30th a mail arrived, and with it the
news. The King had refused to sign the preliminaries of peace. Frankland
and Evelyn[32] hurried off to the Lord Treasurer. Little were they
prepared for the reception that awaited them. Godolphin's words have
unfortunately not been preserved, but we know the substance of them. The
news, he said, had reached the city the day before, having been conveyed
there clandestinely. The packet agent or sub-agent at Ostend had sent
it. Of this he held in his hand conclusive evidence. What means had been
employed, and whether others were concerned in the nefarious
transaction, it was for his hearers to ascertain; and the sooner they
addressed themselves to the task the better. In short, the power of the
purse had again prevailed, and the Post Office had been outwitted by the
Stock Exchange.
[32] Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Evelyn had recently succeeded Sir Robert
Cotton as postmaster-general.
It is difficult to suppose that the intelligence can have been conveyed
from Ostend to London without Macky's connivance. And yet Frankland and
Evelyn believed or affected to believe that he had had no hand in the
business. Their position was, no doubt, one of embarrassment. Organised
as the Post Office then was, they possessed no means of making an
independent investigation. They contented themselves, therefore, with
calling upon Macky to ascertain and report how it was that a letter from
Ostend had reached London on Sunday, although on that day there had been
no mail. The result might easily have been foreseen. Brown, the
sub-agent at Ostend, whose letter it was, stood self-condemned, and
Macky was required to dismiss him. And here the scandal ended. Macky's
own character, with himself as reporter, may be presumed to have been
cleared. At all events he appears to have been taken back into
confidence, and, before many weeks were over, the postmasters-general
had despatched him on an important mission.
This mission was no other than to lay down posts for the army in
Flanders. The tardiness with which intelligence arrived from the seat of
war had long been matter of complaint. In the city especially the
dissatisfaction had been intense, and the recent scandal had not been
calculated to allay it. With a view to remedy this state of things,
Godolphin called upon the postmasters-general to devise some means for
securing more rapid communication. The army was now in the neighbourhood
of Lisle, and operations were about to begin anew. There was, therefore,
no time to be lost. The postmasters-general had recourse to Macky, and
in a few days he produced a plan with which Godolphin expressed himself
highly pleased. Between Lisle and Ostend, and between Ostend and other
places where the army might be, stages were to be settled; at each stage
were to be relays of horses with postilions ready to start at any
moment; responsible persons were to be appointed to collect and deliver
the letters and to receive the postage; and the postage was to be
regulated by distance and to be at the same rates as in England, and to
go to the English Post Office.
Macky, to his extreme gratification, was commissioned to carry out his
own plan. He was to repair at once to Flanders, to report himself to the
Duke of Marlborough, and, having obtained his sanction, to proceed with
the arrangement of details. Above all, he was to keep a close watch upon
the sailing of the packets from Ostend, and to insist upon a rigid
punctuality. From this time no more complaints were heard of the tardy
arrival of intelligence from the seat of war. As postilions were
employed on one side of the water, so expresses were employed on the
other; and these, with punctual sailings between port and port,
constituted a service which for those days might be considered
excellent.
At first, indeed, the employment of expresses from Dover to London
appears to have been a little overdone, and the postmasters-general,
eager as they were to obtain early intelligence, found it necessary to
regulate the practice. An express had arrived bringing a letter from
Macky in Flanders. "Altho' we should be very well satisfied," they wrote
to his deputy at Dover, "to receive an extraordinary piece of good news
by a messenger hired for greater dispatch' sake, yet on ordinary
occasions it might be more warrantable and make less noise and
expectation to have the same sent by a flying pacquet under cover to us
annext to the labell." This was written in August 1709, within six weeks
of Macky's arrival in Flanders; and we know of no passage in the whole
of the Post Office records which more forcibly brings home to us the
difference between the London of to-day and the London of 180 years ago.
Crowds no longer congregate at the doors of the Post Office eagerly
waiting for news; nor is the neighbourhood of St. Martin's-le-Grand
transported with excitement at the approach of a man on horseback.
On the cessation of hostilities at sea, which took place in the summer
of 1712, although the Treaty of Utrecht was not signed until the
following year, the postmasters-general proceeded to put the packets on
a peace footing. The boats from Harwich to the Brill and from Dover to
Ostend were reduced in number. The routes between Dover and Calais and
between Dover and Dunkirk were reopened. The service between Falmouth
and Lisbon, which during the war had been once a week, was now to be
only once a fortnight; and the five boats engaged on this service, as
carrying more hands than would any longer be necessary, were to be
disposed of by public sale and their place to be taken by three of the
largest from Harwich. The result of these several changes was to reduce
the establishment, in point of numbers, by rather more than 120 men,
and, in point of cost, from L21,960 to L15,632. As affecting the cost,
hardly less important than the reduction of numbers was the permission
now given to the packet boats to resume the carriage of merchandise.
This was a source of profit to which the postmasters-general had long
been looking as some set-off against the heavy expense.
Meanwhile Dummer's contract for the West India service had come to an
abrupt termination. That contract had not been long in force before he
began to realise how onerous was the condition that, out of a total sum
of L12,500, he should receive only L4500 in money, and depend, for the
difference on fares, freight, and postage. The postage, which from the
first had fallen short of his expectations, did not increase; and the
fact of his having, within a few months from the commencement of his
undertaking, lost three of his boats, procured for him--what in the
world of commerce is almost incompatible with success--the reputation of
an unlucky man. The West India merchants enjoined their correspondents
on no account to send goods by Dummer's boats. Thus the profits which he
had expected to derive from freight had no more existence in fact than
the profits from postage. Hoping against hope, Dummer struggled on; but
ill-luck continued to pursue him. In little more than five years he lost
no less than nine boats. In order to replace them he mortgaged his
property to the full extent of its value and obtained advances on his
quarterly allowance. This, of course, could not go on, and at length the
crash came. The day had arrived for the West India mail to be
despatched, and there was no boat to carry it. The whole of Dummer's
property, boats included, had been seized for debt. The rest is soon
told. The mortgagees, believing that they had the postmasters-general in
a corner, refused to continue the service except at a preposterous
charge, which Frankland and Evelyn declined to pay. Fortunately three
private ships with consignments for the West Indies were then loading at
Teignmouth and other ports in the south-west of England, and these
relieved the Post Office from what might otherwise have been a serious
dilemma.
Bankrupt and broken-hearted, Edmund Dummer died in April 1713, within
eighteen months of the termination of his contract. It is his honourable
distinction that he succeeded in all that he undertook for others, and
that it was only in what he undertook for himself that he failed.