ABUSE OF THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE, AND OTHER PETTY FRAUDS.
_Abuse of the Franking Privilege._
Wherever the use of anything of value is given without the check of a
money or other equivalent, the use is sure to degenerate into abuse; and
in the experience of the Post-office this has been proved to be the
case, both as regards letters and telegrams. In regard to the first, the
franking privilege was long found to be a canker eating into the vitals
of the Revenue; and its abolition on the introduction of the penny
postage in 1840 came none too soon. Had the privilege been longer
continued, it is impossible to conceive to what extent the abuse of it
might have grown; but what might have occurred here has, in some
measure, taken place in the United States, as is shown by the following
statement made by the Postmaster-General of that country, about twenty
years after the abolition of the privilege in this:--
"Another potent reason for the abolition of the franking privilege, as
now exercised, is found in the abuses which seem to be inseparable from
its existence. These abuses, though constantly exposed and animadverted
upon for a series of years, have as constantly increased. It has been
often stated by my predecessors, and is a matter of public notoriety,
that immense masses of packages are transported under the Government
frank which neither the letter nor the spirit of the statute creating
the franking privilege would justify; and a large number of letters,
documents, and packages are thus conveyed, covered by the frank of
officials, written in violation of law, not by themselves, but by some
real or pretended agent; while whole sacks of similar matter, which have
never been handled nor even seen by Government functionaries, are
transported under franks which have been forged. The extreme difficulty
of detecting such forgeries has greatly multiplied this class of
offences; whilst their prevalence has so deadened the public sentiment
in reference to them, that a conviction, however ample the proof, is
scarcely possible to be obtained. The statute of 1825, denouncing the
counterfeiting of an official frank under a heavy penalty, is
practically inoperative. I refer you to the case reported at length by
the United States attorney for the district, as strikingly illustrating
this vitiated public opinion, reflected from the jury-box. The proof was
complete, and the case unredeemed by a single palliation; and yet the
offender was discharged, unrebuked, to resume, if it should please him,
his guilty task. This verdict of acquittal is understood to have been
rendered on two grounds--first, that the accused said he did not commit
the offence to avoid the payment of the postages; and second, that the
offence has become so prevalent that it is no longer proper to punish
it. These are startling propositions, whether regarded in their legal,
moral, or logical aspects."
The unblushing way in which the British Post-office in its earlier days
was called upon to convey not only franked letters, but, under franks,
articles of a totally different class, will be perceived from the
following cases. It is not to be understood, however, that the things
consigned actually passed through the Post-office, but rather that they
were admitted for transport on board the special packet-ships of
Government, sailing for the purposes of the Post-office. The cases are
taken from the first annual report of the Postmaster-General:--
"Fifteen couples of hounds going to the King of the Romans with a free
pass."
"Some parcels of cloth for the clothing colonels in my Lord North's and
my Lord Grey's regiments."
"Two servant-maids going as laundresses to my Lord Ambassador Methuen."
"Doctor Crichton, carrying with him a cow and divers other necessaries."
"Three suits of cloaths for some nobleman's lady at the Court of
Portugal."
"A box containing three pounds of tea, sent as a present by my Lady
Arlington to the Queen-Dowager of England at Lisbon."
"Eleven couples of hounds for Major-General Hompesch."
"A case of knives and forks for Mr Stepney, her Majesty's Envoy to the
King of Holland."
"One little parcell of lace, to be made use of in clothing Duke
Schomberg's regiment."
"Two bales of stockings for the use of the Ambassador of the Crown of
Portugal."
"A box of medicines for my Lord Galway in Portugal."
"A deal case with four flitches of bacon for Mr Pennington of
Rotterdam."
The Post-office always had a great deal of trouble in controlling and
keeping in check this system of franking; and withal, the privilege was
much abused. Before the year 1764, members of Parliament had merely to
write their names on the covers to ensure their correspondence free
passage through the post; and packets of such franks were furnished by
the members to their friends, who laid them past for use as occasion
required. Nay, more,--a trade was carried on in franks by the servants
of members, whose practice it was to ask their masters to sign them in
great numbers at a time. It was even suspected, and probably with
sufficient reason, that franks were forged to a large extent; and, had
postage been paid on all franked correspondence, it is estimated that
the Revenue would have been increased by L170,000. In the hope of
imposing some greater check on the evil, it was enacted in 1763 that the
whole superscription must be in the handwriting of the member; but even
this proved inadequate, and further restrictions were imposed in 1784
and 1795. Some very difficult and troublesome questions arose from time
to time in dealing with member's letters. For example, when a member of
Parliament had no place of residence in London, and was living out of
the United Kingdom, if he had his letters addressed to a public office,
or to any solicitor, banker, or other agent, he was not entitled to have
his letters free of postage, but, if so directed and delivered, the
postage had to be paid. Again, when a member kept up a residence in
London, but had his letters directed to another place, the member ceased
to enjoy the privilege as regards such letters; as he also did when
letters were addressed to his residence in the country, and he happened
to be elsewhere at the time of their delivery. Then a Catholic peer
dying, who had never taken his seat, and being succeeded by his brother,
who was a Protestant, the question is raised whether the latter could
claim to use the franking privilege before the issue of the writ calling
him to the House of Peers; and the legal decision is given that he could
not so exercise the privilege. Keeping the members within proper bounds
must evidently have been a task for the officers of the Post-office
requiring both vigilance and determination.
But there was another kind of fraud carried on under the privilege
granted to soldiers. A surveyor in Scotland thus referred to the
irregularity as observed in Scotland in 1797:--
"As there is so much smuggling of letters already in Scotland, and
reason to suspect it will increase from the additional rates, it is
matter of serious concern to the Revenue to obtain a clear legal
restriction; and I wish you to represent it to the Board at London, in
case it may not be too late to offer any hints from the distant
situation we are in.
"I have had occasion formerly to observe to you that a very great
evasion of the Post Revenue has taken place--particularly in the north
of Scotland--from the privilege granted to soldiers, under cover of
which not only a very general opportunity is taken by the common people
there to have their letters carried by soldiers to be freed by their
officers, and having them again in return under soldiers' addresses; but
even in several instances which I observed and detected, persons in
higher ranks have availed themselves of this circumstance."
Nor were people of quality above the habit of committing similar frauds
upon the Post-office revenue, as will be observed from the following
remarks penned by an official on the 9th April 1812. The statement runs
thus:--"On the 31st ultimo, having gone into the mail-coach office at
Glasgow, soon after the arrival of the coach from Ayr, and observing
several parcels which had arrived by it, one in particular took our
attention by its appearing to contain a loaf of bread of the supposed
value of 6d. or 8d., addressed to the Honble. Mrs ----, of Glasgow; and
as this parcel was charged 10d., it created the idea of some mistake
having happened in sending it in that way, by which the carriage
exceeded the value, besides the original cost of it.
"In a few minutes after this, however, two ladies called for the parcel,
one of them believed to be Mrs ----herself, and the other her sister,
and inquired for the parcel; and my curiosity leading me to notice the
issue of this supposed hoax, I was not a little surprised to find, after
the lady had cut up the cover, that two or three letters were enclosed
with the loaf, one of which she gave to the other lady, and sent the
loaf home by the porter."
The Post-office has also been exposed to frauds in other ways. Thus it
was a common device to take a newspaper bearing the newspaper frank,
prick out with a pin certain words in the print making up a message to
be sent, and the newspaper so prepared served all the purposes of a
letter as between the sender and receiver. Or a message would be written
on the cover of a newspaper with the first of all fluids known to
us--milk--which, when dry, was not observed, but developed a legible
communication subsequently when held to the fire.
The following anecdotes of the evasions of postage are told by the late
Sir Rowland Hill:--
"Some years ago, when it was the practice to write the name of a member
of Parliament for the purpose of franking a newspaper, a friend of mine,
previous to starting on a tour into Scotland, arranged with his family a
plan of informing them of his progress and state of health, without
putting them to the expense of postage. It was managed thus: He carried
with him a number of old newspapers, one of which he put into the post
daily. The postmark, with the date, showed his progress; and the state
of his health was evinced by the selection of the names from a list
previously agreed upon, with which the newspaper was franked. Sir
Francis Burdett, I recollect, denoted vigorous health."
"Once on the poet's [Coleridge's] visit to the Lake district, he halted
at the door of a wayside inn at the moment when the rural postman was
delivering a letter to the barmaid of the place. Upon receiving it she
turned it over and over in her hand, and then asked the postage of it.
The postman demanded a shilling. Sighing deeply, however, the girl
handed the letter back, saying she was too poor to pay the required sum.
The poet at once offered to pay the postage; and in spite of some
resistance on the part of the girl, which he deemed quite natural, did
so. The messenger had scarcely left the place when the young barmaid
confessed that she had learnt all she was likely to learn from the
letter; that she had only been practising a preconceived trick--she and
her brother having agreed that a few hieroglyphics on the back of the
letter should tell her all she wanted to know, whilst the letter would
contain no writing. 'We are so poor,' she added, 'that we have invented
this manner of corresponding and franking our letters.'"
In asserting its monopoly in the carriage of letters in towns, or
wherever the Post-office had established posts, there was always
trouble; and so much attention did the matter require, that special
officers for the duty were employed, called "Apprehenders of Private
Letter-carriers." The penalties were somewhat severe when infringements
were discovered, and the action taken straight and prompt, as will be
seen by the following, which is a copy of a letter written in 1817 to a
person charging him with breaking the law:--
"SIR,--His Majesty's Postmasters-General have received an information
laid against you, that on the 18th ultimo your clerk, Mr ----, for whom
you are answerable, illegally sent three letters in a parcel by a
stage-coach to you at Broadstairs, Kent, contrary to the statute made
to prevent the sending of letters otherwise than by the post.
"I am commanded by their lordships to inform you that you have thereby
incurred three penalties of L5 each, and that they feel it their duty to
proceed against you to recover the same.
"Should you have any explanation to give, you will please to address the
Postmaster-General.--I am," &c.
[Illustration (facsimile):
General Post-Office, Aug. 10th, 1792
A CAUTION.
To all Coach-Masters, Carriers, Higlers, Ship Masters employed
Coastwise, Newsmen, Watermen and Others.
Having received repeated Information that Letters are illegally
collected, carried and delivered, to the great Injury of the Public
Revenue, and it being the wish of this Office rather to prevent than
punish, and that the unwary may be made acquainted with the Penalties
they are subject to; I am directed to give this Public Notice, that from
the Date hereof, every Effort will be used to detect and punish all
Persons so offending.--The Penalties for which are FIVE POUNDS FOR EVERY
LETTER SO COLLECTED, CARRIED, OR DELIVERED, WHETHER FOR HIRE OR NOT, AND
ONE HUNDRED POUNDS, FOR EVERY WEEK SUCH PRACTICE IS CONTINUED.
By Command of the Postmaster General,
Johnson Wilkinson, _Surveyor_.]
In August 1794, at the Warwick Assizes, a carrier between Warwick and
Birmingham was convicted of illegally collecting and carrying letters,
when penalties amounting to L1500 were incurred; but the prosecution
consented to a verdict being taken for two penalties of L5 each, with
costs of the suit. A report of the period observed that "this verdict
should be a warning to carriers, coachmen, and other persons, against
taking up letters tied round with a string or covered with brown paper,
under pretence of being parcels, which, the learned judge observed, was
a flimsy evasion of the law."
The very cheap postage which we now enjoy has removed the inducement in
a large measure to commit petty frauds of this kind on the Post-office
Revenue, and the commission of such things may now be said to belong to
an age that is past.
_Frauds on the Public._
The Post-office, while it is the willing handmaid to commerce, the
vehicle of social intercourse, and the necessary helper in almost every
enterprise and occupation, becomes at the same time a ready means for
the unscrupulous to carry on a wonderful variety of frauds on the
public, and enables a whole army of needy and designing persons to live
upon the generous impulses of society. While these things go on,--and
Post-office officials know they go on,--the Department is helpless to
prevent them; for the work of the Post-office is carried on as a secret
business, in so far as the communications intrusted to it are concerned,
and the contents of the letters conveyed are not its property or
interest. There are men and women who go about from town to town writing
begging letters to well-to-do persons, appealing for help under all
sorts of pretences; and these persons are as well known, in the sense of
being customers to the Department, as a housekeeper is known at her
grocer's shop. There are other persons, again, who carry on long-firm
swindles through the post, obtaining goods which are never to be paid
for; and as soon as the goods are received at one place, the swindlers
move on to another place, assume new names, and repeat the operation.
The schemes adopted are often very deeply laid; and the police, when
once set upon the track, have hard work to unravel the wily plans. But
tradespeople are not infrequently themselves very much to blame, as they
show themselves too confiding, and too ready to do business with unknown
persons.
The following is an instance of a fraud upon well-to-do persons in this
country, attempted by an American in the year 1869:--
The Rev. Mr Champneys, of St Pancras, London, received a letter posted
at Florence, Burlington County, New Jersey, U.S., which upon being
opened seemed to be not intended for him, but was a communication
purporting to be written from one sister to another. The letter made it
appear that the writer was highly connected, had fallen into the
greatest distress owing to the death of her husband, that her feelings
of self-respect had restrained her from telling her griefs till she
could no longer withhold them, and making free use of the deepest pathos
and high-sounding sentiments, and finally appealing for an immediate
remittance. Mr Champneys, not suspecting a fraud, and desiring to help
forward the letter to the person who, as he supposed, should have
received it, inserted the following advertisement in the 'Times'
newspaper:--
"A letter, dated Florence, Burlington County, New Jersey, U.S., intended
for Mrs Lucy Campbell, Scotland, has been misdirected to Rev. W.
Champneys, 31 Gordon Square. Will Mrs Campbell kindly communicate her
address immediately?"
In response to this inquiry, what was Mr Champney's surprise but to find
that a large number of persons had received letters in identical terms
and in precisely the same circumstances! This of course caused him to
reflect, and then the facts became clear to him--which were, that under
the guise of a trifling mistake, that of placing a letter in the wrong
envelope, a set of dire circumstances were placed before persons who
were likely to be kind-hearted and generous, in the hope that, though
the writer was unknown to them, they might send some money to cheer a
poor but respectable family steeped in calamity!
How far the attempt succeeded does not appear, but Mr Champneys very
properly at once wrote a letter to the 'Times' exposing the fraud, and
it is to be hoped that some generous souls were in consequence saved
from folly.
One more instance--but one coming within the class of the "confidence
trick." In several country newspapers the following advertisement made
its appearance:--
"An elderly bachelor of fortune, wishing to test the credulity of the
public, and to benefit and assist others, will send a suitable present
of genuine worth, according to the circumstances of the applicant, to
all who will send him 17 stamps--demanded merely as a token of
confidence. Stamps will be returned with the present." And then the
address followed, which was not always the same in all the
advertisements.
The advertiser alone would be able to say how far he profited by this
little arrangement, but some idea of the simplicity of mankind may be
derived from the fact that between 300 and 400 letters for this person,
each containing 17 stamps, reached the Dead-letter Office--owing
doubtless to his having "moved on" from the places where he had lived,
in consequence of their becoming too warm to hold him. Specimens of the
letters written by the dupes are as follows:--
1. "The Rev. ---- encloses 17 stamps. He is a clergyman with very
limited means, and the most useful present to him would be five pounds.
If his application be not agreeable, he requests that the stamps be
returned."
2. "I have enclosed the 17 stamps, and shall be very pleased to receive
any present you will send me. As I am not very well off, what I would
like very much would be a _nice black silk dress_, which I should
consider a rich reward for my credulity."
3. "Mrs ---- presents her compliments to the 'elderly bachelor,' and in
order to amuse him by her credulity encloses 17 stamps, and thus claims
the promised present. Her position and circumstances are good, she mixes
in gay society, and is quite an adept at dancing the polka mazourka.
These details may determine the suitability of the present."
4. "Having read your advertisement testing the 'credulity of the
public,' I feel disposed on my part to test the upright and honourable
intentions of a stranger, contrary to the opinion of some, who tell me
it is only a hoax, or, worse, a mere take-in. I therefore, with the
honesty of an Irishman, beg to say I am a clerygyman's wife, mother of
nine children,--the six eldest fine enterprising sons; the three
youngest, engaging, intelligent girls. We Irish generally have larger
hearts than purses. I therefore lay these facts before you, an
Englishman, knowing that a Briton's generosity and capabilities are
proverbially equal.--Hoping I may be able to prove I have formed a
correct opinion of advertiser's truthfulness, I am," &c.
After this we may afford to smile, and use the words of a very old
author with every confidence of their freshness: "Oh, where shall wisdom
be found? where is the place of understanding?"