THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT AN INSTRUMENT OF TAXATION
1711-1840
The year 1711 is an important landmark in the history of the British
Post Office. England and Scotland had united not only under one king but
under one Parliament, the war with France made a larger revenue
necessary, the growth of the Colonies required better communication with
the mother country and each other, and it was highly expedient that
certain changes in the policy of the Post Office should receive
parliamentary sanction. The act of 1711 was intended to meet these
conditions. The English and Scotch Post Offices were united under one
Postmaster-General in London, where letters might be received from and
sent to all parts of Great Britain, Ireland, the colonies and foreign
countries. The postage rates were increased to meet the demand for a
larger revenue. In addition to the General Office in London, chief
letter offices were ordered to be set up in Edinburgh, Dublin, New York,
the West Indies, and other American colonies, and deputies were
appointed to take charge of them.
One of the most important clauses of this act, by providing regulations
for the management of the London Penny Post, finally placed the seal of
the approval of Parliament upon a branch of the General Post, which had
existed for nearly thirty years by virtue of royal proclamations and
legal decisions alone. A penny rate was imposed upon all letters and
packets passing by the Penny Post in London, Westminster and Southwark
to be received and delivered within ten miles from the General Post
Office building. This would seem at first sight to be an improvement on
the old custom, by which a penny had carried only within the bills of
mortality; but as a matter of fact an extra penny was demanded on
letters delivered outside the bills and within the ten mile limit.
Protest was, however, made against this as being illegal, and it was
not until 1730 that the custom was sanctioned.[154]
[154] In 1765 the maximum weight for articles passing wholly by the
Penny Post was lowered from 16 to 4 ounces (5 Geo. III, c. 25).
One other provision of the new act remains to be mentioned. The last
section forbade any official connected with the Post Office from
meddling in politics.[155] The system of party government which had
begun to take form during William and Mary's reign, was developing.
Under Anne, the Whigs had been the war party, the expansionists, while
the Tories were anxious for peace. So different were their policies that
Marlborough had gone over to the Whigs. But the Queen and probably the
majority of the people were tired of war. Godolphin, the great
financier, had given way to Harley and the general election was
favourable to the Tories. Frankland had died before the act was passed,
but Cotton, who was a member of Parliament, preferred to keep his
position in the Post Office and accordingly accepted the Chiltern
Hundreds. A Mr. Evelyn was associated with him as Postmaster-General.
[155] 9 Anne, c. 11.
Shortly after his appointment the attention of the department was
directed to a weakness in administrative control which had already
resulted in considerable financial loss. The Postmasters-General had
always experienced considerable difficulty in collecting the postage on
bye and cross road letters.[156] Since these letters did not reach
London, no check was possible to ascertain whether the postmaster
transmitted to headquarters the full amount of the postage collected on
them. The difficulty had been met before 1711 by farming a large number
of the country post offices.[157] In 1711 the leases under which the
farmers had held office were cancelled and all the posts in the kingdom
came again under the direct oversight of the Postmasters-General. The
old farmers were made managers, with an allowance of 10 per cent from
the net proceeds of the posts under their control, and the deputy
postmasters were again paid directly by the state. The Government had
refused o appoint surveyors when the act of 1711 was drafted and for a
time these managers acted in that capacity.[158] The experiment was not
a success and the Postmasters-General were at their wits' end to know
what to do to save the revenue which was being diverted to the pockets
of the country postmasters.
[156] A bye-letter was the name given to a letter carried over one of
the great roads but not passing to, from or through London. A cross post
letter passed not over the great roads, but over subsidiary or minor
roads.
[157] Joyce, p. 136.
[158] _Cal. T. P._, 1714-19, cxc, 26; ccvi, 29.
The country was happily spared any new device on their part, for in 1721
a man came forward with a proposal to take all the losses upon himself
or rather to prevent them entirely. This was Ralph Allen, whose name is
worth remembering, not as a reformer but as a good business man who came
to the rescue of the postal revenue at a rather critical time. He was
the son of an innkeeper at St. Blazey. At an early age we find him
living with his grandmother, the postmistress of St. Columb. He came
under the notice of one of the surveyors there on account of the
neatness with which he kept the accounts for his grandmother. When he
was old enough, he was appointed to a position in the Post Office at
Bath and in time was made postmaster there. Tradition has it that during
the insurrection of 1715 he informed the authorities that a wagon load
of arms was on its way from the West for the use of the rebels and that
this led to his preferment.[159] He offered to farm the cross and bye
posts throughout the kingdom. The net product from these posts amounted
to £4000 in 1719. Allen offered to pay half as much again and meet all
expenses. The offer was accepted, and in 1721 he was given the lease of
the cross and bye posts for a period of seven years. The rent was fixed
at £6000 a year in accordance with the agreement. For the first quarter,
the receipts exceeded expectations, but later the postmasters began to
relapse into their old ways. In addition, the contract was rather hard
on Allen, as £300 of the £4000 nominally received by the Post Office was
for letters not delivered and hence not paid for. After the third year,
matters began to improve and the receipts increased greatly. The
contract was renewed for terms of seven years, until Allen's death in
1769, and the rent was increased at each renewal.[160]
[159] Joyce, p. 146.
[160] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1731-34, p. 539; W. Thornbury, _Old and New
London_, ii, p. 209; W. Lewins, _Her Majesty's Mails_, ed. 1865, pp.
104-12.
How did he succeed when so many others had failed? In the first place
he introduced the use of post bills and every postmaster had to
distinguish on these bills the bye letters from all others. The voucher,
which he also introduced, seems to have been only an acknowledgment of
the amount to be collected by each postmaster. Besides this, Allen had a
most intimate knowledge of the various post towns in the kingdom, of
their importance and of the number of letters which might naturally be
expected to pass between them. He based his conclusions upon quite
obvious considerations. Between any two towns of much the same
importance he expected about the same correspondence, that it would not
vary much, and that the letters received and despatched would pretty
well equal each other.[161]
[161] Joyce, pp. 155, 162.
When Allen's contract was renewed in 1741 it was proposed that he should
be obliged to settle and support at his own charge posts six days a week
instead of the former tri-weekly posts between London, Cambridge, Lynn,
Norwich, and Yarmouth and from London to Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, and
intermediate towns. This was not done at once, but during the next few
years this proposition was put into effect.[162] In 1734, in addition to
his cross and bye post letters, Allen undertook to pay for the
improvements which he had made in the conveyance of country
letters.[163] He pointed out at the same time that there was some
opposition between the two parts of his contract, since country and
cross post letters interfered more or less with each other.[164]
[162] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1730-41, pp. 449-450.
[163] Country letters were those sent through London. _Cal. T. B. & P._,
1739-41, p. 450.
[164] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1734-41, pp. 445, 450; W. Thornbury, _Old and
New London_, ii, p. 209.
Allen died in 1769, being worth, according to current report, £500,000.
Lewins says that he made £12,000 a year from his farm. Probably both
statements are exaggerated, but it is certain that he accumulated a
respectable fortune while managing the bye and cross posts.[165]
[165] He is the man to whom Pope alluded in the couplet,
"Let humble Allen, with an honest shame, Do good by stealth and blush to
find it fame."
Allen and the poet had a falling out just before the death of the
latter. In his will, Pope left his quondam friend £150 to pay a "few
little debts." Allen is said to have remarked that if Pope had added
another figure, it would have represented better the "few little debts."
W. Lewins, _Her Majesty's Mails_, pp. 104-12.
There had been a considerable increase in the staff of the General
Office and many improvements introduced since 1711. At the head of the
office were two Commissioners called Postmasters-General, each with a
salary of £2000, assisted by a Secretary and four clerks. There were in
addition a Receiver-General, an Accountant-General, a Solicitor, a
Resident-Surveyor, and two inspectors of missent letters. In addition to
the Penny Post carriers, who were employed also by the General Post,
there were a Court Messenger and a carrier for the House of Commons. At
the General Office, letters were taxed and sorted by the "Clerks of the
Road" and their assistants and by seventeen sorters. The window-man and
alphabet-keeper received the money on prepaid letters and posted lists
of those for whom letters had arrived. Undertaxed letters from the
country were re-taxed by the "Clerks of the Road." Besides the
receiving-houses of the Penny Post where all letters might be posted,
there were thirty receiving-houses for the General Post. Letters were
conveyed from these to the central office by sixty-nine carriers.[166]
[166] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1742-45, pp. 102-235; Maitland, _Survey of
London_, p. 998; Noorthouck, _Hist. of London_, 1773, p. 658.
Letters were sent every night to the principal South and Midland towns
of England. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, there were mails for all
parts of England and Scotland and on Tuesday and Saturday for Ireland
and Wales. On Monday and Thursday, letters were sent to France, Spain,
and Italy, on Monday and Friday to Germany, Flanders, Sweden, and
Denmark, and on Tuesday and Friday to Holland. Letters arrived in London
every day from the South and Midland towns, on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday, from all parts of England and Scotland, and on Monday and Friday
from Ireland and Wales.[167] It will be seen from this that the
improvements in postal communications, which had taken place since the
beginning of the century, had been confined to the South and Midland
towns of England and to foreign countries.
[167] J. Latimer, _Annals of Bristol_, 1893, p. 235; _London and its
Environs_, 1761, v, pp. 209-222.
With the foregoing enlargement of postal facilities an old grievance on
the part of the public began to assume an acute form. It had always been
a debated question as to how far the postmasters were responsible for
the delivery of letters. There was no general rule upon the question and
the practice varied in different parts of England. Although the towns on
the post roads were fairly well off as far as their letters were
concerned, it was different with those places which were neither on the
great roads nor on the bye-roads leading off from them. The mails for
such places were left at the nearest post towns and were conveyed to
their destination by carriers and messengers. Cotton and Frankland
stated that in addition to collecting the regular postage, they demanded
for this service an extra payment of 3_d._, 6_d._, and sometimes 12_d._
It was proposed in 1699 that the delivery should be made by persons
appointed to collect as well as to deliver all letters and parcels. For
this they were allowed to take one penny or whatever the people wished
to give them.[168] In Sandwich the cross and bye post letters had always
been delivered free, although a fee was charged for the London letters.
The postmaster there decided to charge for all letters, and the
inhabitants of Sandwich protested. The case was carried to the courts
and the Post Office lost. Sandwich, however, was a place where there had
been a free delivery of part of the letters at least. The
Postmasters-General were very much disturbed at this decision and still
more disturbed lest the courts might decide for free delivery in other
post towns, which had always paid. They resolved to bring on a test
case. The town of Hungerford in Berkshire was chosen, as it could be
proved that the postmaster of that place had received a penny for each
letter delivered since the beginning of the century. The case came
before the Court of King's Bench, Lord Mansfield presiding, and the Post
Office lost again. This case was decided in 1774, and the next year the
"Liverpool Advertiser" records a complaint to the Postmasters-General
that there was only one letter carrier in Liverpool. The reply was that
only one carrier was maintained in any provincial town and that
Liverpool could expect no better treatment.[169]
[168] _Cal. T. B._, 1697-1702, lxiv, 17; _ibid._, 1702-07, lxxxvi, 134.
[169] E. Green, _Bibliotheca Somersetensis_, 1902, i, p. 108; Joyce, pp.
107-108; Latimer, _Annals of Bristol_, p. 416.
At the same time that the Post Office received this adverse decision it
had begun to suffer severely from the illegal carriage of letters by the
post coaches. These post coaches were so called merely because they were
most numerous on the post roads. John Palmer, the proprietor of a
theatre in Bath, pointed out to the Postmasters-General that the coaches
were speedier and cheaper than the post boys who carried the mails on
horseback and proposed that he should be allowed to establish mail
coaches and thus save the postage on letters illegally carried by the
post coaches. His coaches were to be protected by a guard, presumably a
retired soldier, who was to be armed with two guns and to sit facing the
road in front of him. The driver was to carry pistols. No outside
passengers were to be carried, since they impeded the guard in
performing his duties. The speed was to be not less than eight or nine
miles an hour, twice as fast as the post boys travelled. In addition the
mails were to leave London at 8 P.M. instead of after midnight. The
coaches were all to leave London together and return together as far as
possible. To insure this they were not to wait for government letters
when the latter were delayed.[170]
[170] _D. N. B._, xliii, p. 140; Knight, _London_, 1842, iii, p. 280.
The first mail coach ran between London and Bristol in 1784. It was
furnished by contractors at a cost of 3_d._ a mile. This was the initial
cost, however, and by 1797, the rate had been reduced to a penny a mile
each way. In the early part of August, 1784, there was only one mail
coach. At the end of the same month, coaches went to Norwich,
Nottingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. During the next year they were
sent to Leeds, Gloucester, Swansea, Hereford, Milford, Worcester,
Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Holyhead, Exeter, Portsmouth, and other places.
In 1786 they ran between London and Edinburgh. In 1797 there were
forty-two mail coach routes established, connecting sixty of the most
important towns in the kingdom, as well as intermediate places. These
coaches travelled a total distance of 4110 miles and cost the Government
£12,416 a year, only half the sum paid for post horses and riders under
the old system. The coaches made daily journeys over nearly two thirds
of the total distance traversed and tri-weekly journeys over something
less than one third the total distance. The remainder travelled one,
two, four, and six times a week. The result of the establishment of
these mail coaches was summed up by a Parliamentary committee in the
following words: "They have lessened the chance of robbery, diminished
the need for special messengers and expresses, and now carry the letters
formerly sent by post coaches."[171]
[171] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, pp. 4, 36, 37, 98; _Fin.
Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 114; _D. N. B._, xliii, p. 140.
Palmer had been appointed Controller-General of the Post Office and had
chosen as his assistant a man by the name of Bonner. Palmer himself was
of a violent and headstrong disposition, and as ill-luck would have it,
Walsingham, one of the Postmasters-General, was as masterful as himself.
Palmer considered that his office was outside the scope of Walsingham's
authority, and although he failed in making his position absolutely free
from the control of the Postmasters-General, yet he heeded them as
little as possible. He organized a newspaper department without
consulting his superiors and paid no attention to them when an
explanation was asked. He stirred up the London merchants to complain
about the late delivery of their letters, a delay which he had probably
brought about intentionally. A mail coach had been ordered by Walsingham
to carry the King's private despatches while His Majesty was taking the
waters at Cheltenham. This was done without consulting Palmer, who was
so indignant that he persuaded the contractor to send in an enormous
bill for supplying the coach. All this came out through the treachery of
Bonner, who owed his advancement entirely to the friend whom he
betrayed. He went so far as to hand over to the Postmasters-General the
private letters which Palmer had written him. Palmer was dismissed in
1792 with a pension.[172]
[172] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83; Joyce, pp. 251, 275.
At the time of Palmer's appointment, a Treasury warrant had been issued
for the payment to him of £1500 a year and 2 per cent of the increase
from the Post Office revenue, but this warrant had been pronounced
illegal by the Attorney-General. Through Pitt's influence, Palmer
finally obtained £1500 a year and 2 per cent on any increase in net
revenue over £240,000 a year. Palmer objected to this on the ground
that the old net revenue was only £150,000 a year, but Pitt replied that
the increased rates of 1784 would produce at least £90,000. It is
improbable, however, that the new rates produced the increase estimated.
In 1797 Palmer presented a petition to the House of Commons, asking for
the arrears due him according to his method of estimating the increase
in net revenue, upon which his percentage was due. He said that before
his system was introduced the gross product of the Post Office was
decreasing at the rate of £13,000 a year. This was not true. He claimed
that the increase after 1784 was wholly due to his own reforms, taking
no account of the increased rates and the industrial expansion of
England. No action was taken by Parliament.[173]
[173] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 127; _Jo. H. C._, 1796-97, p. 581.
One of the arguments advanced by Palmer for the use of mail coaches was
their security against robbers. Previous to and during the rebellion of
1745 numerous attempts were made to rob the mails, and many of them were
successful. These robberies occurred principally at night. It was said
that the mails were carried by boys not always of the best character,
and that very often they were in league with the robbers. The
Postmasters-General asked for soldiers to patrol the roads where these
robberies were the most frequent. This was the method which Cromwell had
used to protect the mails. The request does not seem to have been
granted, but in 1765 the death penalty was imposed for robbing the mail
and for stealing a letter containing a bank note or bill. Any post boy
deserting the mail or allowing any one but the guard to ride on the
horse or carriage with the mails was liable to commitment to hard
labour.[174] Palmer's prediction was fulfilled by the comparative safety
with which the mails were carried after his coaches had come into use.
[174] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1739-41, p. 234; 5 Geo. III, c. 25. The Post
Office occasionally made good the loss of valuables from theft or
robbery, but as a rule refused to do so. _Cal. T. P._, 1729-30, p. 75;
_Cal. T. B. & P._, 1731-34, p. 74.
Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and Lord Carteret had been the
Postmasters-General in 1782 and 1783. On the fall of Shelburne's
ministry in the latter year, Tankerville left the Post Office, but
Carteret still remained. So far these two men had worked together
fairly well, although Tankerville had a suspicion that his colleague
had been engaged in some doubtful transactions. In 1784, when Pitt
became Prime Minister, Tankerville was restored to his old office. In
the same year a transaction came under his notice which aroused his
suspicion. A Mr. Lees had been appointed Secretary of the Irish Post
Office. The man who had held this position was made agent of the Dover
packet boats, the old agent having been superannuated. The new agent
agreed to pay to his predecessor the full amount of the salary coming to
the place, while he himself was to be paid by Mr. Lees the total salary
coming to the Secretary in Ireland. So far there was nothing uncommon
about the arrangement. The unusual part of the agreement and the part
which attracted Tankerville's attention was Lees' promise to pay the
money to "A. B.," an unknown person, after the old agent's death.
Suspicion pointed to Carteret as the man to whom the money was to be
paid. Lees himself denied this, but did not say who "A. B." was.[175]
[175] _Jo. H. C._, 1787, p. 800.
In 1787 a Mr. Staunton, the postmaster of Islesworth, a position worth
£400 a year, was in addition appointed Controller and Resident Surveyor
of the Bye and Cross Posts, to which was attached a salary of £500,
coals and candles and a house. The First Lord of the Treasury proposed
that the house should not go with the office, and Carteret decided that
Staunton should receive an extra £100 a year in lieu of the house.
Tankerville refused to agree to this, and the contention became so warm
that the whole matter was referred to Pitt, who, rather than lose
Carteret's political support, dismissed Tankerville.[176] Tankerville at
once demanded an investigation, which was granted. The results showed
the Post Office to be in a deplorable state. Tankerville was completely
exonerated, but failed to obtain much sympathy on account of the
violence of his attack upon Pitt and Carteret. It came out in the
investigation that "A. B." was a foreigner named Treves, who had no
claim on the Post Office or any other department of the government
except that he was a friend of Carteret. Carteret himself knew the
condition of his appointment, but had done nothing except to express
himself displeased with the whole arrangement. A payment of £200 a year
had also been exacted from Mr. Dashwood, Postmaster-General of Jamaica,
as the condition of his appointment, and that too had gone to Treves.
The agent at Helvoetsluys had been allowed by Carteret to sell his
position to a man as incapable as himself. Staunton's office had been
abolished soon after his appointment, and he had been allowed to retire
at the age of forty years with a pension of £600 a year in the face of
the rule that officers of an advanced age and after long service were
allowed upon retirement to receive only two thirds of their
salaries.[177]
[176] _Ibid._, 1787, p. 800.
[177] _Jo. H. C._, 1787, p. 800.
The Postmasters-General had received in 1783, in addition to their
salaries, over £900 for coals. They had also received £694 for candles
during two years and a half and £150 for tinware for the same period.
Tankerville had taken his share of these perquisites, but it is only
fair to add that Carteret's emoluments exceeded his by £213 for the
periods under consideration. It had become customary to receive a money
payment in place of a large part of their supplies. In 1782 the total
sum going to the officials of the General Office amounted to £28,431, of
which sum about £10,000 were placed under the heading of emoluments
other than salaries.[178] Of all the departments of the Post Office, the
Sailing Packet Service was the one most in need of reform.
[178] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83; _Jo. H. C._, 1787, p 817.
The light, which was then let in among the dark places of the Post
Office, had a most excellent effect. Acting on the report furnished by
the committee of the House, a new establishment was effected in 1793.
The reforms were approved by the Postmasters-General and carried out
under the direction of the Lords of the Treasury. The good work had been
begun in 1784 by Palmer. He had appointed additional clerks, letter
carriers, surveyors and messengers, had established new offices, and had
increased the inadequate pay of minor officials. This had entailed an
increase of £19,022 in expenses in the General and Penny Posts, but the
increase was justified by increased efficiency and by larger returns
from the conveyance of letters. Of the total increase, £11,451 had been
spent on the General Office and £7571 on the Penny Post, to which had
been added eighty-six more letter carriers for London and seventy-eight
more for the suburbs, as well as some supernumerary carriers.[179] The
reforms introduced in 1793 may be grouped under three heads: regulations
respecting fees and emoluments, abolition of some offices and an
increase in officers and clerks in others; regulation of official
business. The regulations respecting fees and emoluments were
necessarily negative in their character. The most important were as
follows: The postmasters were no longer to pay fees to the
Postmasters-General on the renewal of the bonds given by their
securities. The two per cent allowed to the Scotch Deputy
Postmaster-General on all remittances from Scotland was discontinued and
a compensation for life was granted instead. The fees for tinware were
abolished, and the pension to the New York agent was to cease. No postal
official was allowed to own shares in the sailing packets, and with a
few minor exceptions all salaries were henceforth to be in lieu of every
emolument or fee.[180]
[179] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 3, 66-83.
[180] _Ibid._, no. 7, pp. 52-65.
A number of sinecure and useless offices were abolished. The chief among
them were: Jamineau's perquisite office which had the monopoly of
selling newspapers to the "Clerks of the Roads," the Secretary's
position as agent for the packets, the Controller of the Bye and Cross
Posts, the Inspector of Dead Letters in the Bye Letter Office, the
Collector in the Bye Letter Office, the Secretary of the Foreign Office,
and the Controller of the Inland Office.[181]
[181] _Ibid._, no. 7, pp. 52-65.
The changes in business regulations were as follows: The
Postmasters-General were no longer to include legal charges, chaise
hire, and pensions under the head of dead letters. The
Postmasters-General's warrant must be entered previous to any money
being paid. The payment of debts must be enforced. The West India
accounts should be sent to the deputy there every quarter. The payments
to mail coach contractors must be made directly by warrant instead of
through the Controller-General. No change was made in the anomalous
position of the Accountant-General. He was supposed to be a check upon
the Receiver-General, but had to depend upon the Receiver-General's
books for verifying the remittances from the deputies.[182]
[182] _Ibid._, no. 7, pp. 8, 52-65.
The Englishman's belief in the sanctity of vested interests has usually
been too strong to permit any abridgment of rights or privileges without
compensation. Those postal officials who had been dismissed or whose
sinecure offices had been abolished were not to be turned entirely
adrift. Provision was made for pensioning most of them. Before the
reform the total sum paid by the Post Office in pensions was £1500. The
incumbrances dismissed were allowed £6101, and between 1793 and 1797
£1475 more were added to the pension list. It was pointed out at the
time that it was far better to pension them off and leave them to die
than to continue them in service. In 1797 it was a relief to be able to
announce "that already £648 had been saved from dead and promoted
pensioners."[183]
[183] _Fin. Rep._, no. 7, p. 130.
The report of the committee which had been appointed at Tankerville's
suggestion is silent on the question of the opening and detention of
letters. It had been provided by the act of 1711 that no letters should
be opened or detained except under protection of an express warrant from
one of the Secretaries of State. The Royal Commission of 1844 reported
that from 1712 to 1798, the number of warrants so issued was 101,
excluding those which were well known or easily ascertained. The
Secretary of State for the Inland Department issued most of them. From
1798 to 1844, 372 warrants were issued, many of them being general
warrants and often for very trivial causes. At the trial of Bishop
Atterbury, the principal witnesses against him were Post Office clerks,
who had opened and copied letters to and from him, under warrant from
one of the Secretaries.[184]
[184] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, pp. 9-11; app., p. 105 (78); app., p. 107
(79); app., p. 111 (83).
In addition to this regular method for intercepting letters, a
particular department had been in existence for some time with no other
duties than to examine letters. Strictly speaking it had nothing to do
with the Post Office and was supported entirely from the "Secret Service
Fund." The truth about it came out in the examination of the conduct of
Sir Robert Walpole by the "Committee of Secrecy." From 1732 to 1742,
£45,675 had been spent upon this department. It had originated in 1718
and the expenses for that year were only £446, but by 1742 they had
increased more than tenfold. The Secretary of the Post Office in giving
his evidence before the committee, said that this office received
instructions from the Secretaries of State and reported to them. The
working force consisted of a chief decipherer, assisted by his son and
three other decipherers, five clerks, the Controller of the Foreign
Office, a doorkeeper and a former alphabet keeper. Either considerable
business was transacted there or it was a retreat for useless
officials.[185]
[185] _Rep. Com_., 1844, xiv, app., p. 112 (84); _Cal. T. B. & P_.,
1742-45, p. 669.
An account is given in Howell's "State Trials" of the trial of Hensey
and of the practice then in vogue for finding treasonable
correspondence. His letters were handed over for investigation to the
Secretary of State by a Post Office clerk. This clerk in giving his
evidence said that when war was declared against any nation, the
Postmasters-General issued orders at once to stop all suspected letters.
These orders were given to all the Post Office clerks and letter
carriers. Such instructions can only be justified as a war measure, for
the act of 1711 had provided that no letter should be detained or opened
unless by express warrant from one of the Secretaries of State for every
such detention or opening.[186]
[186] _Rep. Com_., 1844, xiv, app., p. 112 (85); Howell, _State Trials_,
xix, col. 1369. This was in 1758.
We find very few complaints about the opening of letters during the
second half of the eighteenth century. On the other hand it must be
confessed that letters were at times opened and searched merely to learn
the beliefs and plans of political opponents. It is difficult to
determine to how great an extent this practice was prevalent as there
seems little doubt that the complainants may occasionally have been
prompted by their own vanity to believe that their correspondence had
been tampered with.[187] In 1795, during the great war with France, the
Government ordered all letters directed to the United Provinces to be
detained. The question then was, what was to be done with them? None of
them seems to have been opened and the cause for their detention was
only to prevent any information being given to the enemy. Accordingly
by an act of Parliament passed in the same year, the Post Office was
empowered to return them to the writers.[188]
[187] Joyce is of opinion that such practices were very common. So also
is May (T. E. May, _Constitutional History of England_, 1882, iii, pp.
44-49; D. B. Eaton, _Civil Service in Great Britain_, New York, 1880, p.
115).
[188] 35 Geo. III, c. 62.
Although the larger part of the fees and emoluments enjoyed by the
postal officials had been abolished in 1793, the proceeds from those
which were left continued to increase steadily. By far the most
lucrative was the privilege of franking newspapers, within the kingdom,
to the colonies, and to foreign countries. Ever since newspapers had
been printed, the "Clerks of the Roads" had been allowed to send them to
any part of the kingdom without paying postage. After 1763, when members
of Parliament were allowed the same privilege, every one felt at liberty
to make use of a member's frank for this purpose, and the Clerks
suffered accordingly. Newspapers to the Colonies were franked by the
Secretary of the Post Office and produced a revenue of £3700 in 1817,
all of which went to Sir Francis Freeling who was then Secretary. In
1825 the privilege of franking papers within the kingdom and to the
colonies was withdrawn, but compensation was granted to Sir
Francis.[189] This did not end the trouble, for the Clerks still acted
as newspaper venders. On account of their official position they were
able to post them until 8 P.M., while the regular newsvenders were
allowed to do so only until 5 P.M. at the Lombard Street Office and 6
P.M. at the General Office or they must pay a special fee of a halfpenny
on each.[190] Mr. Hume, the member for Montrose, brought the case before
the House, and in 1834 all Post Office officials were forbidden to sell
newspapers. At the same time the officials in the Foreign Office lost
the right to frank papers to any foreign country.[191]
[189] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, pp. 215-222.
[190] London _Times_, 1829, Oct. 6, p. 2; _ibid._, 1832, March 14, p. 1.
[191] _Parl. Deb._, 3d ser., xxiv, col. 875.
The members of the Secretary's office had, since 1799 and 1801, issued
two official publications, which paid no postage. These were called the
"Packet List" and the "Shipping List." The first of these contained all
the intelligence received at the Post Office concerning the sailing
packets. The second contained information about private vessels,
furnished principally by "Lloyds." The Commissioners commented upon this
practice in very uncomplimentary language.[192] In addition, the
members of the Secretary's department received fees on the deputations
granted to new postmasters in England and Wales, upon commissions
granted to agents and postmasters abroad, upon private expresses to and
from London, and upon news supplied to the London press during a general
election.[193] In 1837 the fees on deputations and commissions were
abolished, private expresses were discontinued, the "Shipping List" was
discontinued, and the "Packet List" passed from the control of the Post
Office. The revenue from these fees in the Secretary's Office which were
still continued was to go henceforth to the general revenue.[194]
[192] _Acc. & P._, 1817, pp. 4-16; _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep.
app., nos. 12, 13, 14.
[193] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 12.
[194] _Acc. & P._, 1837-38, xlv, 265, p. 5.
An extra charge of 6_d._ was demanded upon letters posted between 7 P.M.
and 8 P.M. This had been the rule since 1800, and the proceeds went
either to the Inland or Foreign Office. So also did the registration
fees on ships' letters. These fees were transferred to the general
revenue in 1837.[195] In 1827 the total amount received in fees,
emoluments, and gratuities by the officials in the London Office was
£23,100, by agents and country postmasters £16,500. Most of these were
either abolished or transferred to the general revenue in 1837.[196]
[195] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 3.
[196] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 214.
The distinguishing feature of the Post Office during the eighteenth
century was the extension of its service, which accompanied the
industrial expansion of the kingdom. The abuses which naturally flourish
during a prosperous period had been largely remedied by the reform of
1793. The nation's need for a larger revenue led not only to a great
increase in postage rates but also to stricter economy in the
organization of the Post Office. The London and Dublin Penny Posts were
reformed and extended, the work of the General and Penny Posts in London
was harmonized, the employees were increased, and the new departments
which had been established were reformed and consolidated.
The Newspaper Office which had been illegally established by Palmer was
continued after his dismissal. Walsingham had objected to it on the
ground that Palmer had no right to appoint any officials without his
consent. Previously all newspapers had been forwarded to the postmasters
free of postage by the "Clerks of the Roads." Now that they might be
sent with the letters, they were brought in at the last moment still wet
from the press so that they defaced the writing on the letters sent in
the same bag.[197] In 1784 a Dead Letter Office was also established.
Previously, dead and missent letters had been handed to a clerk in the
General Office. During Allen's farm of the cross and bye post letters,
missent letters were no longer forwarded to London, but any postmaster,
into whose hands they came, was instructed to place them on the right
track.[198] Four years later a third office was instituted, a Money
Order Office. No order could be issued for more than five guineas and
the fee for that sum was 4_s._ 6_d._ It was started as a private
speculation by some of the postal officials and so remained until 1838
when it was taken over by the General Post Office.[199]
[197] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, p. 87.
[198] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83.
[199] W. Thornbury, _Old and New London_, ii, p. 212.
The policy of the Post Office with reference to the registration of
letters containing valuables varied with the nature of the enclosure and
the manner in which it was sent. On ships' letters sent from England,
the registration fee was one guinea, and a receipt was given to the
person sending a registered letter. The fee for a letter coming into the
kingdom was only 5_s._[200] If bank notes were enclosed in a letter, it
received no special attention from the Post Office. If gold or silver
was sent in a letter marked "money letter," the postmaster placed it in
a separate envelope and made a special entry on the way bill, which was
repeated at every office it passed through. No special fee was charged
for the extra attention bestowed upon these letters until 1835 when the
Postmaster-General was allowed to charge a fee for their registration in
addition to the ordinary postage.[201] The Money Order Department, still
a private undertaking, had its fees reduced from 6_d._ to 3_d._ on sums
not exceeding £2 and from 18_d._ to 6_d._ on sums exceeding £2 but not
more than £5.[202]
[200] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 3.
[201] _London Times_, 1832, Apr. 27, p. 3; 5 and 6 Wm. IV, c. 25; 3 and
4 Vict., c. 96.
[202] London _Times_, 1837, Jan. 26, p. 5; Dec. 13, p. 4; _Acc. & P._,
1841, xxvi, 221, no. 6.
At the same time that the General Post was being reformed, a former
letter carrier by the name of Johnson was improving the Penny Post. The
six principal receiving-houses which Dockwra had instituted had been
reduced to five and were now still further reduced to two. The
subsidiary receiving-houses in the shops and coffee-houses were
increased and the number of letter carriers more than doubled. Six
regular deliveries for the city proper and three for the suburbs were
introduced. Before 1793 the deliveries in the city had not been made at
the same time, for the carriers had to go to one of the main
receiving-houses to get their letters. The deliveries were now made as
near the same time as possible all over the city and the delivery hours
were posted so that people might know when to expect the carriers and
thus act as a check upon them. Mounted messengers conveyed the letters
to those carriers who delivered in distant parts of the city.[203]
[203] Joyce, p. 302; _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 83.
In 1794 an act was passed "to regulate the postage and conveyance of
letters by the carriage called the Penny Post." The rate for letters
posted in London, Westminster, Southwark and the suburbs for any place
within these places and their suburbs remained one penny. Letters sent
from these places to any place outside paid 2_d._ as before. Hitherto
letters sent from outside to London, Westminster, Southwark and the
suburbs had paid only one penny. This was raised by the act of 1794 to
2_d._ It was also provided that the postage for Penny Post letters need
not be paid in advance. This would increase the expense but the idea was
probably to secure greater safety in the delivery of letters. Finally,
the surplus revenue at the end of each quarter was to be considered part
of the revenue of the General Post.[204]
[204] 34 Geo. III, c. 17.
The changes introduced by Johnson and the act of 1794 were in the right
direction. This seems a reasonable conclusion not so much on account of
the increase in net product, which was not great, as on account of the
increase in gross product, showing that the number of letters and
parcels sent by the Penny Post had doubled. The financial condition of
the Penny Post before and after the reform is shown by the following
figures:--
_Average Yearly_ _Average Yearly_ _Average Yearly_
_Gross Product_ _Expense_ _Net Product_
1790-1794 £11,089 £5289 £6000
1795-1797 £26,283 £18,960 £7323[205]
[205] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, p. 94.
London was not the only place which could boast a Penny Post in 1793.
The system was extended in that year to Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol,
and Birmingham, while Dublin had been so favoured since 1773. It is
almost unnecessary to add that in all these places, it was a pronounced
success from a financial and social point of view.[206]
[206] Joyce, pp. 196, 300.
In 1801 the London Penny Post which had lasted for 120 years was
practically swept out of existence, for 2_d._ was then charged where a
penny had formerly been the rate. An exception was made in the case of
letters passing first by the General Post, for on these the old rate
still held.[207] Four years later, the limits of the Twopenny Post, as
it was called, were restricted to the General Post Delivery and 3_d._
was charged for letters crossing the bounds of this delivery. This was
called the Threepenny Post.[208] The effect of the increased rates and
the growth of population in the metropolis is shown by the increase in
gross receipts, which rose from £11,768 in 1703 to £96,089 in 1816 and
to £105,052 in 1823. During the same period, the number of letter
carriers was increased from 181 to 235, and nineteen officials were
added to the establishment.[209]
[207] 41 Geo. III, c. 7.
[208] 45 Geo. III, c. 11.
[209] _Acc. & P._, 1817, pp. 15, 16; _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, pp. 10,
136.
Although the General, the Twopenny, and the Threepenny Posts, were all
under one management, no attempt was made to harmonize their methods of
procedure until 1831. Letters for the General Post were often entrusted
to the Twopenny Post but the receiving-houses of both Posts were
frequently established in the same street and close together. The
General Post had seventy receiving-houses in the city, the Twopenny Post
209, the Threepenny Post 200 more in the suburbs and adjoining country.
In addition there were 110 "bellmen" who collected letters from door to
door, ringing their bells as they went. They charged one penny for each
letter collected.[210] The General Post receiving-houses closed at 7
P.M., the Twopenny receiving-houses at 8 P.M., but letters might be
posted at the Charing Cross Office until 8.30 and at the General Office
until 9 P.M.[211] At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were
three deliveries, by the Inland, Foreign, and Twopenny Post carriers.
The limits of the Inland Post Delivery were very irregular and left out
a large part of the populous suburbs. The Foreign Post Delivery was also
very irregular and still more restricted in area. The Twopenny Post
Delivery included London, Westminster, Southwark and their suburbs, and
was the most extensive. Letters were delivered by the Threepenny Post
within an irregular area bounded on the inside by the Twopenny Delivery
and extending nearly twelve miles from the General Post Office. The
separate delivery of foreign letters was abolished first and all foreign
letters were delivered by the General Post carriers, and in 1831 the
deliveries of the General and Twopenny Posts were made co-extensive,
extending to a distance of three miles from the General Office at St.
Martin's-le-Grand. Three years later the Twopenny Post building in
Gerard Street was given up and all Twopenny Post letters henceforth were
sent to the General Post Office building to be sorted.[212]
[210] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 1; _ibid._, 1829,
xi, pp. 310-311; _London Times_, 1825, Dec. 6, p. 2.
[211] London _Times_, 1835, Jan. 24, p. 3.
[212] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., nos. 30, 63, 64.
The regular collections of Twopenny Post letters were made at 8 A.M., 10
A.M., 12 M. and 2, 5 and 8 P.M. Deliveries were made at the same hours
in the morning, at noon, and at 2, 4 and 7 o'clock in the afternoon. A
letter posted at or before 8 A.M. was sent for delivery at 10 A.M. and
so on. The letters collected were taken to the General Office by
horsemen to be sorted. Two sets of men were employed, one collecting
while the other delivered.[213] There was an additional "early delivery"
as it was called. The carriers on the way to their own "walks"
delivered letters to subscribers, who paid 5_s._ a quarter for the
accommodation thus afforded. The postage for letters so delivered was
not paid until the carriers called again on their regular delivery.[214]
In 1837 the times of the regular deliveries were changed to every second
hour from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. and collections were made at the same
hours.[215] In the Threepenny Post limits, there were on an average
three deliveries a day but those towns which had a General Post delivery
received only two a day from the Threepenny Post. Letters were sent by
horsemen or mail carts for delivery. The same receiving-houses were used
for General and Threepenny Post letters.[216]
[213] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 1; London _Times_, 1835,
Jan. 24, p. 3.
[214] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 50; _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xxxi,
col. 943; _Acc. & P._, 1826-27, xx, p. 397.
[215] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xlv, 265, p. 6.
[216] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 1.
The Dublin Penny Post was remodelled in 1810. The deliveries, which had
been only two a day, were increased to four and then to six, additional
letter carriers were appointed and receiving-houses established. The
penny delivery extended to four miles around the city. There was a 2_d._
rate for letters beyond the four mile radius.[217] Previous to 1835, the
boundary of the Edinburgh Penny Post was a circle with a radius of 1-3/8
miles from the Register Office. Some Scotch mathematician must have been
consulted when in 1835 the boundary was made an ellipse with its foci a
furlong apart, the distance from each focus to the most remote part of
the circumference being 1-5/16 miles. Outside this ellipse, there was a
2_d._ rate. There had been three deliveries a day, raised in 1838 to
five.[218]
[217] _Ibid._, 1829, xii, p. 73; 7 Wm. IV, and 1 Vict., c. 34.
[218] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, 2d rep., app. E, no. 31.
Before 1837 Penny Posts had also been established in Newcastle and
Glasgow.[219]
[219] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 14.
Since nearly all the mail coaches left London at 8 o'clock in the
evening, most of the letters arriving there in the morning for outside
places were not despatched until the same evening. It was pointed out by
the commissioners in the Report of 1837 that a large proportion of these
letters might be forwarded by the post coaches.[220] If they arrived on
Saturday morning they were not forwarded until Monday evening since
Sunday was not a mail day and mail coaches arriving on Sunday were
detained in the outskirts of the city.[221] The rumour that the Post
Office was considering the expedience of a Sunday Post brought forth a
flood of protests. Bankers, merchants, vestries, and religious societies
were represented by delegations and petitions to the Postmaster-General
and the House of Commons, praying that no change might be made.[222]
Sixteen hundred solicitors joined in the opposition. Lord Melbourne
informed the Bishop of London that the subject was not under
consideration, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer told Sir Robert
Inglis that the Government had no intention of opening the Post Office
on Sunday.[223] Derby had a Sunday delivery in 1839, but, on their own
request, many of the inhabitants were excluded from it.[224]
[220] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 7th rep., p. 7, and app., nos. 46, 47, 48.
[221] _Acc. & P._, 1837, l. 316.
[222] _Ibid._, 1837, xlvi, 176.
[223] _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xlvi, coll. 206, 332.
[224] London _Times_, 1839, June 1, p. 7.
For over forty years all the mail-coaches in England were provided by
one man, with whom a new contract was made every seven years. Before
1797 a penny a mile was paid each way but on the imposition of a tax on
carriages, the rate was raised to 1-1/2_d._, then to 1-3/4_d._, and
later to 2-1/8_d._ a mile. One contractor supplied the coaches, others
provided horses and drivers, but the guards were hired directly by the
Post Office. In Scotland and Ireland, coaches, horses, and drivers were
all provided by the same men. The number of miles a day covered by the
mail-coaches in 1827 was 7862 and the mileage allowance for that year
was £46,900. When the mails were exceptionally heavy, mail carts were
used, which cost somewhat more than the coaches, since they carried no
passengers. In 1836 the contract for the supply of coaches was thrown
open to public competition. By this move, the expenses dropped from
£61,009 a year to £53,191 although the total distance travelled per day
increased from 13,148 to 14,482 miles.[225] The mail-coaches were at a
disadvantage in competing with the post-coaches, since the former were
allowed to carry no more than four inside and two outside passengers
nor were they allowed to carry any luggage on the roof.[226] On the
other hand the mail-coaches in England paid no tolls until 1837.[227]
The 268 mail guards of the British coaches received £7577 in salaries in
1837, paid directly by the Post Office. Seven inspectors were also
employed at a fixed yearly salary and 15_s._ a day when travelling. They
superintended the coachmen and guards, investigated complaints, delays,
and accidents, and made preliminary agreements in contracting for
coaches.[228] The majority of the Irish coaches had paid tolls ever
since they had been introduced. Generally they were paid by the Post
Office at stated intervals. The total distance travelled by mail-coaches
in Ireland in 1829 was 2160 miles each day, by mail-carts 2533 miles.
The number of guards employed was eighty-five, receiving £2935 a year.
The Irish coaches were allowed to carry four outside passengers.[229]
[225] _Parl. Papers_, 1811, _Rep. Com._, p. 9; _Rep. Commrs._, 1837,
xxxiv, 7th rep., apps. 5, 7, 26, p. 71; London _Times_, 1832, Apr. 27,
p. 2; _Acc. & P._, 1837-38, xlv, 265, p. 3: 265, p. 4; _Rep. Commrs._,
1829, xi, p. 294.
[226] _Parl. Papers_, 1811, _Rep. Com._, pp. 10, 32, 50, 51.
[227] _Ibid._, 1811, _Rep. Com._, p. 1; _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xix,
col. 683; Wm. IV and I Vict., c. 33.
[228] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 34; _ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 7th rep.,
app., nos. 30, 31.
[229] _Parl. Papers_, 1811, _Rep. Com._, p. 1; 43 Geo. III, c. 28; _Rep.
Com._, 1831-32, xvii, pp. 336, 338, 339; _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv,
7th rep., app., no. 31.
The first railway in England over which mails were carried was operated
between Manchester and Liverpool. In 1838 the Government paid the Grand
Junction Railway 5-7/8_d._ a single mile for the conveyance of its
mails. At the same time the average rate by the coaches was 2-1/8_d._ a
single mile. On the London and Birmingham Railway when a special Post
Office carriage was used, 7-1/2_d._ was paid. When the ordinary
mail-coach was carried on trucks the rate was 4-1/4_d._ When a regular
railway carriage was used, the rate was 2-1/2_d._ a mile for one third
of a carriage.[230] For the year ending 5th January, 1839, the Post
Office paid £105,107 for the conveyance of mails by coaches and £9883 to
the railways. For the next official year, the figures had risen to
£109,246 and £39,724.[231]
[230] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 7th rep., app., nos. 12, 13. The first day
coach left London in 1837, connecting at Birmingham with the railway to
Hartford, Cheshire. (London _Times_, 1837, Sept. 5, p. 4; _Rep. Com._,
1837-38, xx, pts. 1 and 2, 2d rep., app. E, No. 48; pt. 1, p. 469, no.
17.)
[231] _Acc. & P._, 1841, xxvi, 221, no. 5.
The increased business of the Post Office made necessary a corresponding
increase in the employees and better arrangements for dealing with the
reception and despatch of letters. The number of persons employed in the
General Office in 1804 was 486. In 1814 there were 576. There were 563
postmasters in England and over 3000 persons officially engaged in the
receipt and delivery of letters. Additional offices had also been
established. In 1813 a Returned Letter Office was organized for the
purpose of returning undelivered letters to the writers and collecting
the postage due. Previous to 1813, the practice had been to return only
such letters as appeared to contain money or were supposed to be
important enough to escape destruction. A Franking Department was
organized to inspect such letters as were sent free. The increased use
of private ships for conveying letters led to the establishment of a
Ship Letter Office.[232]
[232] _Parl. Papers_, 1813-14, _Rep. Com._, p. 35; _Acc. & P._, 1817,
pp. 4-16; _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 137.
The old Post Office building in Lombard Street was quite too small to
provide for the new offices and employees. The Inland Department
contained only 3140 superficial feet, half of which was occupied with
sorting tables, leaving only 1500 feet for 130 persons. In the Foreign
Department with thirty-five men, there were only 250 superficial feet
where they must perform their duties. The accommodations for receiving
letters were so inadequate that when a foreign mail was being made up,
the windows were crowded with an impatient and seething mob waiting for
their turn to post their letters. The condition of the Penny Post
Department was no better. In 1814 a committee of the House of Commons
reported that a new General Post Office building was absolutely
necessary. Objections were raised on account of the necessary expenses
involved and it was not until 1829 that the new Post Office in St.
Martin's-le-Grand was formally opened.[233]
[233] _Parl. Papers_, 1813-14, _Rep. Com._, pp. 11-16.
In 1784 Ireland was given much larger political powers than she had
previously enjoyed, and her Parliament was freed from the direct
tutelage of the English Privy Council. At the same time greater latitude
in postal matters was also granted. An Irish Postmaster-General was
appointed to reside in Dublin and to collect the postage on all letters
which did not pass beyond Ireland. The postage between the two countries
was to be collected on delivery, and then to be divided between the two
according to the distance travelled in each. All net receipts from the
Irish Office were ordered to be transmitted to London. The sailing
packets remained in the charge of the English Postmasters-General, but
£4000 a year was paid to the Irish Office for this privilege.[234]
[234] 24 Geo. III, c. 6.
After the separation of the Irish from the English Post Office,
different postage rates had been established for the two countries. The
division of authority thus established had caused endless difficulties.
Complaints about the delay or loss of letters crossing the Channel at
Kingstown, Howth, and Waterford were referred from one office to the
other. The Commissioners who inquired into the condition of the Dublin
Office found things in a deplorable condition. There were nearly as many
postal officials employed in Dublin as in London, although the number of
letters handled was not one fourth so great. In the secretary's office,
employing six persons, the fees amounted to £2648 a year, largely on
English and Irish newspapers. In the whole Dublin establishment they
averaged over £15,000 a year. The contracts for the supply and horsing
of the mail-coaches were supposed to be public but they were awarded by
favour. The Postmasters-General did not attend to business and were very
jealous of each other. The Commissioners recommended the amalgamation of
the English and Irish offices, and this was accomplished in 1831, the
Irish postage rates having been altered four years earlier to coincide
with the English rates.[235]
[235] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 253, pp. 7, 8, 15-84; _ibid._, 1837,
7th rep., app. nos. 22, 68; 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21.
Ireland was divided into eight postal divisions, according to the routes
of the mail-coaches. Mails left Dublin at 7 A.M. with an additional mail
for Cork at noon. They arrived in Dublin between 6 and 7 A.M. The most
important postal centres in addition to Dublin were Belfast, Cork,
Limerick, and the packet stations at Waterford and Donaghadee. The total
number of post towns in Ireland was 414. At the same time there were in
Great Britain 546 post towns.[236] A new post office building was
completed in Dublin in 1821 at a cost of £107,000.[237]
[236] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 253, pp. 7, 8; 1831-32, xvii, p. 325.
[237] 48 Geo. III, c. 48; _Parl. Papers_, 1821, xix, 286.
The Scotch Post Office had been amalgamated with the English Office in
1711, and Scotland was constituted one of the eighteen postal divisions
of Great Britain. The Scotch rates had been the same as the English
rates since that date, although an additional half-penny was paid on
Scotch letters to meet mail-coach tolls. In 1821 there were only eight
towns for which mails were made up. At the same time that a new building
for the use of the Post Office was being erected in Dublin, a contract
was signed for a new General Office building for Edinburgh to cost
£14,000.[238]
[238] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 353, p. 8; _Parl. Papers_, 1821, xxi,
423.
The rates established by the act of 1765 were still unchanged for the
colonial possessions of the United Kingdom. The American dominions had
been sadly depleted by the Revolutionary War but the postage revenue
from the loyal remnants had steadily increased. In 1838 the amount of
postage charged upon the colonial postmasters in America amounted to
£79,000. At one time Jamaica had been the most important American colony
from a postal point of view. Canada now took the lead, followed in order
of importance by Jamaica, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In 1834 it was
provided that, as soon as the North American Provinces passed postal
acts of their own and these acts were approved by the King, the colonial
rates of 1765 should cease and the net postal revenue of the North
American Provinces should be retained by them.[239]
[239] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, pts. 1 and 2, 2d rep., app. E, no. 42; 4
and 5 Wm. IV, c. 7.
The British Post Office was now to experience the most far reaching and
vital change since 1635. Sir Rowland Hill was the representative of the
movement, aided by Mr. Wallace, who, as a member of Parliament, was able
to exercise an important effect upon the proposed reform. The history of
the adoption of penny postage has been so well told by Hill himself that
only a bare story of its acceptance by Parliament is necessary here. A
committee was appointed to report upon the condition of the Post Office,
the attitude of postal officials and of the public towards the proposed
change, its effect upon the revenue, and finally to give their own
opinion. This committee examined the Postmaster-General,[240] the
Secretaries and Solicitors of the London, Dublin, and Edinburgh offices,
other officials in the Post Office, the Chairman, Secretary, and
Solicitor of the Board of Stamps and Taxes, Rowland Hill and
eighty-three other witnesses from different classes of people, and
obtained many reports from the Post Office. Hill presented his plan to
the Committee as follows:--
That inland letters should pay postage according to weight at the rate
of one penny for each half ounce.[241]
Such postage should be paid in advance by means of stamped papers or
covers.[242]
An option might be allowed for a time to pay a penny in advance or 2d.
on delivery.[243]
Day mails should be established on the important lines of
communication.[244]
[240] Since 1823 there had been only one Postmaster-General, as the dual
system was abolished in that year.
[241] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, 3d rep., 708, p. 3.
[242] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, p. 13; xx, questions 113, 128, 129,
548.
[243] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, p. 13; _ibid._, xx, qs. 113, 128,
129, 548.
[244] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 750-59, 890-92.
There should be a uniform rate of postage because the cost of
distributing letters consisted chiefly in the expenses for collecting
and delivering them.[245] The plan then in operation for letters not
exceeding one ounce in weight was to charge according to the number of
enclosures. This plan was uncertain because the number could not always
be ascertained, necessitated a close examination, and was evaded by
writing several letters on one sheet.[246]
[245] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 114, 11092-97; pt. 1, 3d rep., 708, p.
5; pts. 1 and 2, 2d rep., app. E, no. 58.
[246] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 3116, 4599, 8137, 9770; 3d rep., p. 44.
Payment on delivery made it necessary to keep two separate accounts
against each postmaster, one for unpaid letters posted in London, and
one for paid letters posted in the country. The postmasters had also to
keep accounts against each other. Payment in advance, if made
compulsory, would do away with half of these accounts and the use of
stamped covers or paper would do away with the other half.[247] In some
small places where the penny charge would not cover the cost of
delivery, Hill proposed that a small additional charge be made, either
in advance or on delivery, but he withdrew this suggestion later.[248]
[247] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, 3d rep., pp. 35, 38; qs. 113, 620, 621.
[248] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, pp. 48, 59, 424; pts. 1 and 2, 1st
rep., no. 25, p. 508.
The witnesses summoned to give their evidence before the committee
pointed out that a multitude of business transactions were not carried
on at all, or were carried on clandestinely, or were hampered by the
high postage rates. Bills for small amounts were not drawn,[249]
commercial travellers did not write until several orders could be sent
on one sheet of paper,[250] samples were not sent by post,[251]
communication between banks and their branches was restricted,[252]
statistical information was denied,[253] social correspondence
restricted especially among the poor,[254] working men were ignorant of
the rates of wages in other parts of the country,[255] and the high
postage was a bad means of raising revenue.[256] In order to estimate
the probable revenue after the change, it was necessary to know the
number of letters carried. Hill had come to the conclusion that the
total number was about 80,000,000 a year. The Secretary, Maberley,
considered that there were about 58,000,000. A return was called for by
the committee and Hill's estimate proved to be nearly correct.[257]
[249] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 6682, 7093.
[250] _Ibid._, q. 7668.
[251] _Ibid._, qs. 7671, 7721.
[252] _Ibid._, q. 10,059.
[253] _Ibid._, qs. 6951, 10,305.
[254] _Ibid._, qs. 2923, 5522-54, 5443-54, 6703, 7961.
[255] _Ibid._, qs. 7991, 9840-42.
[256] _Ibid._, qs. 8126, 8130 (Lord Ashburton).
[257] _Ibid._, pt. 1, pp. 9, 434; _ibid._, pt. 2, pp. 59, 658; app., p.
58; _ibid._, pts. 1 and 2, 3d rep., p. 19.
The committee reported that the Post Office "instead of being viewed as
an institution of ready and universal access, distributing equally to
all and with an open hand the blessings of commerce and civilization, is
regarded as an establishment too expensive to be made use of" (by large
classes of the community) "and as one with the employment of which they
endeavour to dispense by every means in their power." They were on less
solid ground when they proceeded to state that the idea of obtaining
revenue had been until lately only a minor consideration and that the
Post Office had primarily been established for the benefit of trade and
commerce.[258] Finally Hill's plan was approved, though only by the
casting vote of the chairman, Mr. Wallace.
[258] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, 3d rep., p. 10.
The House of Commons received the proposed change with favour. Over 300
petitions with 38,000 signatures were presented praying for its
adoption. The Duke of Richmond, a former Postmaster-General, thought
that it would be beneficial and that it was the only means of stopping
the illegal conveyance of letters.[259] Sir Robert Peel was of the
opinion that, with the prevailing deficits, it was an unfortunate
departure, and he feared that prepaid letters would not be
delivered.[260] But the Treasury was given power to lower rates and in
1840 a treasury warrant was issued, imposing postage rates between the
colonies and between foreign countries through Great Britain according
to weight and distance.[261] Stamped covers were issued for the use of
members of Parliament, and in 1840 an act was passed establishing penny
postage for the United Kingdom, permitting the use of stamped paper or
covers, and imposing rates on foreign and colonial letters according to
weight and distance conveyed.[262]
[259] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, 2d rep., app., p. 3; _Parl. Deb._, 3d
series, xlvii, col. 1231.
[260] _Ibid._, 3d series, xlvii, coll. 278-84, 293.
[261] _Acc. & P._, 1841, xxvi, p. 53; 1839, xlvi, p. 568.
[262] _Parl. Deb._, 3d series, li, col. 227; 3 and 4 Vict., c. 96.
The complete change thus produced in the policy of the Post Office is
vividly set forth by the old Secretary, Sir Francis Freeling. "Cheap
postage"--he writes, "What is this men are talking about? Can it be that
all my life I have been in error? If I, then others--others whose
behests I have been bound to obey. To make the Post Office revenue as
productive as possible was long ago impressed upon me by successive
ministers as a duty which I was under a solemn obligation to discharge.
And not only long ago. Is it not within the last six months that the
present Chancellor of the Exchequer[263] has charged me not to let the
present revenue go down? What! You, Freeling, brought up and educated as
you have been, are you going to lend yourself to these extravagant
schemes? You with your four-horse mail coaches too! Where else in the
world does the merchant or the manufacturer have the materials of his
trade carried for him gratuitously or at so low a rate as to leave no
margin of profit?"[264]
[263] The Rt. Hon. Thomas Spring Rice.
[264] Joyce, pp. 427-28.