Posts—Post-Offices, Ancient and Modern.
“The Post-office is properly a mercantile project. The
Government advances the expenses of establishing the different
offices, and of buying or hiring the necessary horses or
carriages, and is repaid with a large profit by the duties
upon what is carried.”—SMITH’S WEALTH OF NATIONS.
In the earlier periods of society, communication between the parts of a
country was a rare and difficult undertaking. Individuals at a distance,
having little inclination and less opportunity for such intercourse,
were naturally satisfied with their limited means of communicating one
with another.
As civilization advanced and trade became a national feature, these
communications became more important and, of course, more frequent. Our
readers will observe, as we progress in this work, how it assumes at
last one of the most important branches of a government. Indeed, this it
was destined to become from the fact that it originated with the people,
and their interest made it a part and portion of the great postal
system.
Posts and post-offices, as understood in modern parlance, are identified
with trade and commerce, and in their connection with _letters_. The
word post, however, was used long before post-offices were established,
implying a public establishment of letters, newspapers, &c. In the Roman
Empire, couriers, on swift horses, passed from hand to hand the imperial
edicts to every province. Private letters were sent to their destination
by slaves, or intrusted to casual opportunities.
Although we are apt to stigmatize two of the greatest nations of the
earth—the Greeks and Romans—as being uncivilized, and historically
termed barbarians, yet were they highly educated in many of the branches
of literature, art, and science. The posts were well known among the
Romans; yet is it difficult to trace with certainty the period of their
introduction. Some writers carry it back to the time of the
Republic,—posts and post-offices, under the name of _statores_ and
_station_, having been then, it is said, established by the Senate.
Whether this was the case or not, Suetonius assures us that Augustus
substituted posts along the great roads of the Empire. At first, the
despatches were conveyed from post to post by young men running on foot
and delivering them to others at the next route. Post-horses are
mentioned in the Theodosian Code, _decursu publico_; but these were only
the public horses for the use of the government messengers, who, before
this institution was established, seized everything that came in their
way.
Horace speaks of the post as “means of conveying rapid intelligence.”
Flying posts in the days of Richard III. were used for military
purposes, imparting news of war, victory, &c. “_Equi
positi_”—post-horses—were common even before the idea of a general
postage-system was conceived. “Post-haste” is a familiar phrase among
the old poets. Drayton says,—
“A herald posted away
The King of England to the field to dare.”