Two days after Witherings' death, namely, on the 30th September
1651, by Order of Parliament, a previous Order of 21st March 1650,
touching the office of Postmaster, inland and foreign, was revived,
and the Council of State were directed to report their opinion thereon
forthwith. On the 4th October, the Committee for the Posts pass an
order, "that the Committee sit in the Inner Horse Chamber on Thursday,
at 2 P.M., to receive the claims of all persons pretending any interest
in the Foreign or Inland Letter Office, as also the propositions of any
person about the improvement and management thereof." This invitation
to claimants to come forward opened a very large door, as will be seen
presently.
It had all along been insisted upon by Witherings that, as his patent
for the office of Foreign Postmaster stood in favour of two lives,--his
own and that of William Frizell,--the possession of the office was
in his right (having many years before bought out Frizell), and must
remain of his right so long as either of the two lived. Now, by a
provision in Witherings' will, he left £300 a year to Sir David Watkins
to execute the office after his death, and to maintain and educate his
son Thomas until he should be of sufficient age to take his father's
place. Witherings' son died about 1652, and, as a matter of fact, Sir
David Watkins carried on the office of Foreign Postmaster, in favour
of Witherings' son, and afterwards of his nephew, who became heir,
until the 30th June 1653, when a change was made in the whole postal
arrangements, both Inland and Foreign.
In response to the invitation of the Committee for the Posts of the 4th
October, the following claims were sent in, in addition to the claim of
Sir David Watkins. That of Henry Robinson by deputation from Endymion
and George Porter, who previously had been granted a deputation by
Charles Lord Stanhope. This claim was for both offices, Inland and
Foreign. That of Walter Ward, merchant, also to both offices. That of
Thomas Billingsley to the Foreign Office; and that of Benedict Moore
and William Jessop, on behalf of the creditors and three daughters
of Robert Lord Rich, to a payment of £900 a year out of the Foreign
Letter Office. A claim was also preferred by Mrs. Witherings, on
behalf of herself and daughter, on the ground that a large part of her
fortune had been spent in purchasing and developing the Foreign Letter
Service. The Council of State and various Committees had much trouble
in dealing with these various claims, the legal opinions obtained
upon them, which still remain, having apparently been of little use
in clearing matters up. The Committees, by way of escape from their
difficulties, were fain to throw up the whole business, so far as
deciding the question of the claims is concerned; and, proceeding upon
a resolution of the Committee on the Posts of the 7th November 1651,
it was determined that "the offices should be let to farm." References
continued to pass, however, between the Parliament, the Council of
State, the Committee on the Posts, and the Irish and Scotch Committee;
and it was not till the year 1653 that any final step was taken. In
May of that year, the Committee for the Management of the Posts made
certain suggestions for the future carrying on of the posts. Among
these were, that the Inland and Foreign Posts be placed under one and
the same control. That the inland rates should be as follows:--
For single letters to places within
100 miles from London 2d.
do. over 100 " " 3d.
do. to Ireland 6d.
do. to Scotland 4d.
That the Irish mails should go by way of Milford and Waterford, and
Chester and Dublin; and that all letters to or from Scotland should
circulate by way of Leith or Edinburgh.
That public letters--letters of Government--should be carried free.
That the rental for both offices should not be less than £6300 per
annum.
Soon after this time tenders were called for, in connection with which
the following conditions were prescribed:--
"(1) The undertakers are to be of known integrity and good affection,
and responsible in outward estate.
"(2) They are to carry all extraordinary despatches to or from the
supreme authority, Lord-General Cromwell, the Council of State,
Commissioners of Admiralty, General of the Fleet, General Officers
of the Army, Army Committee, and Irish and Scotch Committee, or any
person entrusted with the management of a public affair wherein private
interest is not concerned.
"(3) All such letters by, as also those to and from, all members of
the legislative power, are to be carried free from postage, provided
that such as are not known by their seals have an endorsement as
follows:--'These are for the service of the Commonwealth,' signed by
the persons themselves or their clerks.
"(4) That the sum of £---- be paid by the undertakers of this business
every three months.
"(5) They shall receive for single letters carried into Ireland, 6d.;
into Scotland, 4d.; to all parts above 80 miles from London, 3d.; to
all parts less remote, 2d.--with note of the difference between single,
double, and triple letters.
"(6) That a weekly intercourse may be continued between England and
Ireland, they are to maintain one or more packet boats weekly between
Milford and Waterford, and between Chester and Dublin.
"(7) That besides the several post stages now in use, there is to be a
post settled between Dover and Portsmouth, Portsmouth and Salisbury,
London and Yarmouth, and Lancaster and Carlisle.
"The persons nominated by the undertakers for posts in their several
stages, as also all other officers subordinate to them, shall be
approved by persons authorized thereto by the Lord-General and the
Council of State."
On the 29th June 1653, offers were considered by the Posts Committee,
under the foregoing specification of conditions, as follows:--
Henry Robinson £8041 0 0 per annum.
Ben. Andrewes 9100 0 0 "
John Goldsmith 8500 0 0 "
Ralph Kendall 1103 12 9 "
John Manley (with good security) 8259 19 11-3/4 "
Richard Hicks 9120 6 8 "
Rich. Hill 8160 0 0 "
Two other offers at least had been made; but they do not seem to
have been taken into serious account for certain reasons--one being,
apparently, that the offerers had prescribed conditions outside the
specifications set down.
No time was now lost by the Council of State. On the very next day they
passed the following resolution:--"John Manley to carry all packets,
public and private, inland and foreign, according to the terms agreed
on between him and a Committee of Council for that purpose, and to
enter on the execution of the said office to-night, and receive the
profits thereof, and a warrant to be drawn for that purpose; power
given him to stop all mails of letters carried by any person not
authorized by him; and his office for postage of letters to be freed
from all taxes." The terms agreed upon as to payment were not those in
Manley's offer, but £10,000 a year.
Before proceeding further, it is necessary to revert to the year 1649.
In this year the Common Council of London set up a rival post of
their own on the several roads leading from London, and, as a report
of Prideaux states, they "have employed a natural _Scott_ into the
north who has gone into Scotland and hath settled postmasters (others
than those for the State) on all that road." The alleged reason for
this proceeding was, that the Common Council required another weekly
conveyance of letters for their uses. They were pressed to come before
Parliament in order that they might set forth their claim to the right
of setting up an independent post, but they declined to do so. Prideaux
represented that his rivals, besides "intrenching upon the rights of
Parliament," would cause a decrease of his revenue; and, under these
circumstances, he could not be expected to carry on the business of the
Posts; for under the arrangement then existing, the "charge of all the
postmasters of England were taken off the State." These representations
were made by Prideaux in March 1650. The Government was more arbitrary
than particular as to the strict observance of precedents in law, and
the Posts of the Common Council of London were promptly put down. But
shortly after Witherings' death, in 1651, a combination of men, relying
upon the votes of the Parliament of 1642, under which it was declared
that the Secretaries of State and Witherings had no exclusive monopoly
in the carriage of letters, succeeded in setting up a system of posts
in opposition to the officially recognised posts of Prideaux, and
actually drove the latter from the field. The men who conducted this
campaign against Prideaux were--Clement Oxenbridge, Richard Blackwall,
Francis Thomson, and William Malyn. Oxenbridge was Checkmaster to the
Collector for Prize Goods (1652); Blackwall was at the same period
a Collector for Prize Goods; Thomson is probably a man of the name
who, in 1654, resigned his interest in Windsor Little Park and other
property (of course, for a consideration), which he had purchased some
time before from the State; Malyn appears to have been connected with
one or other of the public offices. These men called themselves "the
first undertakers for reducing letters to half the former rates." They
tell us that Prideaux continued to exact the high rate of 6d. for every
letter. In the account given by them of their proceedings, they say
that:--"The undertakers, observing this extortive rate to be held up,
as well in Witherings' lifetime as after his death,--when the pretence
of that illegal grant was ended in point of limitation--and observing
that the whole benefit went into one private hand, ... they conceived
it would be a work both acceptable to the State and beneficial to
the people, to contrive the abatement of those excessive rates; and
therefore, maugre all oppositions and abuses of the monopolizer and his
interest, they at first dash adventured on postage at the rate of 3d. a
letter beyond eighty miles, and 2d. a letter within or to eighty miles;
and to make return three times weekly." The "undertakers" thus started
upon their venture by reducing the minimum rate for a letter from 6d.
to 2d., and by running the mails three times a week instead of once as
hitherto. Prideaux tried to put down this combination by reducing his
rates and establishing extra mails, but without avail; for the public
were so grateful for the reform introduced by the undertakers, that
they gave him no encouragement, and he was obliged eventually to give
up the business. As Prideaux was written to by the Council of State
about neglects on the Portsmouth Road on the 23rd May 1652, his giving
up the Posts must have been subsequent to this date.
The rival concerns were carried on, as might be supposed, in a spirit
of bitter antagonism, in which the deputy postmasters had their share.
Prideaux's agents on one occasion murdered a mounted post riding with
the opposition mail, and threw his body into a river; and near the
same place a son of one of the old postmasters assaulted another of
the rival messengers with a drawn sword. The account goes on to say,
that "these practices not accomplishing his (Prideaux's) aim, an Order
from the Council of State was procured--not to stop us or our mails,
that being too apparently illegal, but in such doubtful terms as might
affright the weak from sending their letters to us. Libels also were
posted up and down the city by him or his agents, signifying that our
mails should be stopped, but his go free. This project failing, Mr.
Prideaux, out of a hypocritical pretence of keeping the Sabbath day,
by his own warrant commanded his postmasters to require the justices
of peace in the several counties to stop our mails on the Sabbath,
whereas his own went free." ... "Whilst we were labouring amidst these
difficulties, it pleased God to devolve authority on such worthy
persons as had from the beginning countenanced us in our work; who, in
their first entrance on their management of public affairs, intrusted
us with their ordinary and extraordinary despatches." This appears to
refer to the period of the breaking up of the Long Parliament, 20th
April 1653, when the undertakers "were the only persons who performed
the service of conveying the State's despatches."
"We continued to perform the service of the State freely, fulfilling
all things concerning the postage of inland letters; we reduced the
same into one channel, and entertained as many of the old postmasters
as were honest and well affected, according to direction of the Council
of State (which constrained us to lay aside divers of those honest
persons ready to assist us in carrying on so good a work), took the old
post-house in London, where three days a week the State and all persons
were accommodated," etc. From this account it seems clear that the old
Post system under Prideaux was ousted by the new company, and that the
latter had established itself as the recognised Inland Post of the
country.
On the very day on which Manley was appointed to the farm of the Posts,
the 30th June 1653, he was furnished by the Council of State with a
warrant as follows:--"To Clement Oxenbridge, and all others concerned
in the inland and foreign post. John Manley having contracted for and
farmed these offices, we authorize him to enter on his duties this
night, to receive and carry all packets, and to receive the profits
to his own use. And you are required to permit him to do this without
interruption or molestation." Upon the strength of this warrant Manley
proceeded to enter upon his new duties, and, as regards the Foreign
Letter Office, there seems to have been no difficulty. But with the
Inland Letter Office the case was very different. Up to the day when
Manley was appointed, the managers of the Inland Post were hopefully
negotiating with the Council of State for the farm of the Posts. Their
hopes of success were, however, suddenly blighted. The account of
the transactions at this time given by these men, which is somewhat
amusing, is as follows:--"After we were withdrawn (from the Council),
Col. Rich, after private conference with a member of Council, so
represented the business that an Order within half an hour was passed
by Council immediately to invest Manley with the management of the
inland and foreign letters. He, that very night, without further
warning, demanded the letters which we had received, and the profits of
the letters then brought to us by our own servants, at our own charges.
With much persuasion we prevailed with Manley that the money should be
deposited into a clerk's hand intrusted by him, till the pleasure of
the Council were known; yet before that could be obtained, Manley, with
some old clerks and postmasters of Mr. Prideaux's company, violently
with swords broke into our house, where our letters and goods were,
thrust out our servants, and by force kept possession. The same night,
Manley and others violently broke into the dwelling-house of some of
us in Wood Street, demanded the letters there, and would by force have
broke into the room where some of us were, had we not by main strength
kept the door against them; and he, with threatening speeches, required
us not to receive any more letters. On complaint to Col. Rich, he, with
rough words, commanded us not to meddle with receiving or sending any
more letters, declaring that such was the sense of the Council's Order,
and that, if we persisted, those of us who had any employment under the
State should be turned out, and soldiers should be sent to our houses
to stop persons bringing any letters to us. From real tenderness to the
present posture of public affairs in that juncture of time we forbore
contest, in expectation of justice from the supreme authority, rather
than occasion disturbance." In this hustling way was the post-office
business transferred to new hands.