APPENDIX A

I. RATES OF INLAND LETTER POSTAGE CHARGED IN ENGLAND, 1635-1915

Witherings' Rates, 1635.
Single Letter.Double Letter.Per ounce.
Under 80 miles2d.4d.6d.
80 miles and not exceeding 1404d.8d.9d.
Above 1406d.12d.12d.
To or from Scotland8d.
To or from Ireland9d.After 2 ounces, 6d. the ounce.

—Royal Proclamation of 31st July 1635.

This was the introduction of postage in the modern sense. The object of the exceptional rate for Ireland was to avoid interference with a Proclamation recently issued there by the Lord Deputy and Council.

"A single letter is one written on one sheet of paper sealed; a double letter is one sheet of paper which covers another sheet sealed up; a treble letter proportionately."—Calendar of State Papers (Domestic Series), 1658, p. 368.

Ordinance of 1657.
For every Letter—If Single.If Double.Per ounce.
s.d.s.d.s.d.
To or from any place within 80 miles of London020408
At a further distance than 80 miles030610
To or from Scotland040816
To or from Ireland061020
In Ireland—
  To or from any place within 10 miles of Dublin020408
  At a further distance than 40 miles040810

—H. Scobell, A Collection of Acts and Ordinances, London, 1658, p. 512.

Act of 1660 (12 Car. II, Cap. 35).
On Single
Letter.		On Double
Letter.		Per ounce.
From London—d.d.d.
  80 miles and under248
  Above 80 miles3612
To or from Berwick3618
From Berwick within Scotland—
  40 miles and under248
  Above 40 miles4812
To or from Dublin61224
From Dublin within Ireland—
  40 miles and under248
  Above 40 miles4812

N.B.—There were no cross posts. Between two towns not on the same post road, however near, letters could circulate only through London, and whenever a letter passed through London an additional rate was imposed, e.g. from Bristol to Exeter (less than 80 miles) a letter would be sent via London and charged two rates for over 80 miles.

1711 (9 Anne, Cap. 10).
Single.Double.Ounce.
From London—d.d.d.
  80 miles and under3612
  Above 80 miles4816
To Edinburgh61224
To Dublin61224
From Edinburgh within Scotland—
  50 miles and under248
  Above 50 miles and not exceeding 80 miles3612
  Above 80 miles4816
From Dublin within Ireland—
  40 miles and under248
  Above 40 miles4816

The initial charge was raised from 2d. to 3d. The area of the penny post delivery was therefore restricted to the 10-mile circle from the General Post Office. Previously, towns within about 20 miles had been served by the penny post, but an additional penny was charged for all packets delivered in the suburbs.

1765 (5 Geo. III, Cap. 25).
For Great Britain—
  Not exceeding one post stage1d.
For England only—
  Over one and not exceeding two stages2d.

No change was made in other inland rates.

1784 (24 Geo. III, Sess. 2, Cap. 25).

The rates of 1765 were increased by 1d. for a single letter for distances under 150 miles, and 2d. for greater distances.

1796 (37 Geo. III, Cap. 18).
Within England, Wales, and Berwick—For a Single
Letter.
  Not exceeding 15 miles3d.
  From 15 to 30 miles4d.
  From 30 to 60 miles5d.
  From 60 to 100 miles6d.
  From 100 to 150 miles7d.
  Over 150 miles8d.
Within Scotland—
  In addition to existing rates1d.
1801 (41 Geo. III, Cap. 7).
Within Great Britain—
  Not exceeding 15 miles3d.
15to30miles4d.
30to50"5d.
50to80"6d.
80to120"7d.
120to170"8d.
170to230"9d.
230to300"10d.
  For every 100 miles above 3001d.
1805 (45 Geo. III, Cap. 11).

Within Great Britain, in addition to existing rates—

1812 (52 Geo. III, Cap. 88).
Within Great Britain—
For a Single
Letter.
  Not exceeding 15 miles4d.
  Above15but not exceeding20miles5d.
"20"   "30"6d.
"30"   "50"7d.
"50"   "80"8d.
"80"   "120"9d.
"120"   "170"10d.
"170"   "230"11d.
"230"   "300"12d.
"300"   "400"13d.
"400"   "500"14d.
"500"   "600"15d.
"600"   "700"16d.
"700miles17d.

These rates were re-enacted by I Vict., cap. 34, § 3. The usual increased charges for double, treble, and ounce letters applied throughout. Additional rates were charged in respect of conveyance by packet boat, e.g. for a single letter between Holyhead and Dublin, 2d.; in respect of Menai Bridge, 1d.; in respect of Conway Bridge, 1d.; and in respect of any letter conveyed in Scotland by a mail carriage with more than two wheels, ½d. (See 1 Vict., cap. 34, §§ 3, 5, 6 and 7).[674]

By 2 and 3 Vict., cap. 52, the Treasury was empowered to regulate rates of postage, and subsequent changes have been made by Treasury Warrant.

1840.
Not exceeding ½ ounce (uniform rate irrespective of distance of transmission).1d.
Not exceeding 1 ounce (uniform rate irrespective of distance of transmission).2d.
For each additional ounce, or fraction of an ounce, 2d.
1865.

Rate for letters exceeding 1 ounce in weight reduced to 1d. for each ½ ounce, or fraction of ½ ounce, after the first ounce.

1871.
Not exceeding 1 ounce1d.
Not exceeding 2 ounces1½d.
For every additional 2 ounces or fraction of 2 ounces up to 12 ounces, ½d.
For letters exceeding 12 ounces in weight, 1d. per ounce, including the first ounce.
1885.

Rate of ½d. per ounce after the second ounce continued without limit.

1897.
Not exceeding 4 ounces1d.
For every 2 ounces, or fraction of 2 ounces, thereafter, ½d.
1915.
Not exceeding 1 ounce1d.
Not exceeding 2 ounces2d.
For every 2 ounces, or fraction of 2 ounces, thereafter, ½d.

II. FOREIGN RATES IN THE BRITISH SERVICE

One of the earliest regular posts in England was the post to Dover, established for the transmission of despatches to and from the Continent.[675] This post early assumed considerable importance relatively to the other posts. The settlement of foreign artisans in this country, in consequence of the persecutions on the Continent, naturally led to the growth of a considerable intercourse with places abroad. There was besides a large cloth trade. Letters were not, however, sent exclusively by the King's post. Frequently the merchants made their own arrangements for the conveyance of their letters; and since one of the functions of the post in those days was to enable the authorities to keep a close watch on all correspondence passing within the realm, in order that conspiracies against the State might be detected, this proceeding of the merchants was viewed by the Government with much jealousy. It led to the first assumption by the State of the monopoly of the carriage of letters. In 1591, before the use of the posts for the transmission of inland letters for private individuals had been officially recognized, a royal proclamation forbade the conveyance of letters to or from places outside the realm except by the King's post. A further proclamation to the same effect, so far as it related to foreign letters, was issued in 1609.[676]

In 1619 the foreign post was separated from the ordinary post, and a foreigner, Matthew De Quester, who had been appointed by

Lord Stanhope, then Master of the Posts, to superintend the foreign post, was appointed to control the service. In 1626 De Quester published the following tariff applicable to foreign letters:—

To or from the Hague, Brussels, Paris, and Vienna30s.
To or from any part of Germany6s.
From Venice for a single letter9d.
From Venice for any letter other than a single letter2s. 8d.
From Leghorn and Florence for a single letter1s.
From Leghorn and Florence for any letter other than a single letter3s. the ounce.[677]

The tariff was incomplete, but is noteworthy as the first set of rates of any description issued in England for the conveyance of letters by post. Stanhope had charged certain fees on letters for the Continent. On letters to or from Amsterdam or Hamburg, for example, his fee had been 8d.[678] But, until this time, no general table of rates had been issued.

By the Ordinance of 1657[679] the following rates for foreign letters were established:—

For a Single Letter.Double Letter.Per ounce.
d.d.d.
To Leghorn, Genoa, Florence, Lyons, Marseilles, Aleppo, Constantinople122445
To St. Malo, Morlaix, Nieuhaven61218
To Bordeaux, Rochelle, Nantes, Bayonne Cadiz, Madrid91824
To Hamburg, Frankfort, Cologne81624
To Dantzic, Leipsic, Lübeck, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Elsinore, Königsberg122448

No rates were fixed for letters passing outside Europe.

These rates were not substantially altered by the Act of 1660, although in some cases a variation according to the route followed was introduced. For example, a letter sent to the North of Italy via Lyons was charged 3d. more than a letter sent direct.

Under James II rates of postage (6d. a single letter, 1s. a double letter, and 2s. the ounce) were fixed for letters to and from Jamaica, although no service to and from the island was provided by the Crown.

In 1686 regular mail services were established under contract between Dover and Calais and between Dover and Ostend, and in 1687 a service between England and Holland. It is probable that packets were sailing between Dover and Calais before that time,[680] but in general the cross-Channel services had previously been conducted by boats hired casually for the conveyance of particular mails. For the Calais service a sum of £1,170 a year was paid, and for the Dutch service a sum of £900 a year.[681]

Letters from abroad brought by merchant ships (known as "ship letters") were by the Ordinance of 1657[682] and by the Act of 1660 made subject to postage on arrival in this country. Such letters were required to be given up to the postmaster at the port of arrival, who forwarded the letters to London, where they were charged with the proper amount of postage. No payment was made to the shipmaster in respect of letters handed over to the Post Office in this way, and no penalty was incurred if the letters were not so handed over. This part of the Act consequently remained a dead letter. The farmers of the Post Office saw, however, that it would be profitable to them to offer a small pecuniary inducement to the shipmasters, and accordingly offered to pay a penny for every letter brought by private ship and handed over by the shipmaster to the postmaster of the port of arrival.[683] As the farmers were able to charge the legal rate of inland postage on all such letters, there was a sufficient margin to leave a profit after payment of the penny. The regular ship letter fee, which was afterwards legalized, originated in this practice.

Most of the ship letters came to the port of London, and the establishment of the penny post in 1680 had a serious effect on the proceeds of the ship letter money. If the letters were for delivery in London, they could be dropped into the penny post for delivery at a penny each, whereas if handed in to the General Post Office as ship letters they would be charged at the appropriate foreign rates, according to their place of origin. Thus, letters from Marseilles for delivery in London would be charged 1s. each, although the service actually performed by the Post Office was no greater than that performed for a penny in the penny post. The foreign rates, as applied to ship letters, were therefore for the most part a simple tax, and the use of the penny post was greatly resorted to.[684] The Postmasters-General protested continually against this fraud on the

revenue; and in 1696, in order to put a stop to it, two officers were appointed whose duty it was to receive letters and packets from all "masters of ships and vessels, mariners, and passengers as shall be by them hereafter brought in any ships or vessels into the Port of London."[685]

The payment of a penny a letter to the shipmasters was without legal sanction until the Act of 1711.[686] This Act revised the foreign rates, in general in an upward direction, the increase on the rates of 1660 varying from 1d. to 3d., and first established statutory rates for letters passing to or from the colonies. From London to or from the West Indies the rate was 18d. for a single letter, and to or from New York 12d. The rate to the West Indies was, in 1765, reduced to 1s. for a single letter, and this rate became in course of time the standard for all colonial letters.

In 1796, in addition to the ordinary shilling rate, letters from the colonies were subjected to a charge at the inland rate in respect of transmission within this country: e.g., a letter from America would be charged the shilling rate, and the inland rate from Falmouth to its destination. An addition of 4d. was also made to the rates on letters to or from places abroad, other than places in the colonies. In 1805 an additional penny was laid on letters between Great Britain and the American Colonies.

The Act of 1711 had made illegal the despatch by private ship of letters which could be sent by the regular packets; but for places to which no packet service existed, shipmasters were free to accept and carry letters, and to charge what fees they chose. So far as it directed that all letters for places abroad should be sent by packet where a packet service existed, the Act was ineffective. From the chief coffee-houses in the City of London it was customary to collect letters to be sent in this way by private ship where no packet service existed. This practice was extended to those places to which there was a packet service, and became generally recognized. Shipmasters usually charged a fee of 2d. per letter,[687] and the whole traffic was conducted independently of the Post Office.

No attempt was made to collect postage on letters conveyed by private ship, whether received or despatched by such ship, except in respect of transmission within the kingdom. The penny authorized by the Act of 1711 went to the master of the ship. About the year 1790 Frederick Bourne, a clerk in the foreign department of the Post Office, suggested a scheme which should bring all ship letters into the post and subject them to postage for foreign transmission. He proposed that inward ship letters should be charged

a uniform rate of 4d., and outward letters should be charged half the packet rate; for those places to which there was no packet rate, the rate was to be based on what the packet rate might be presumed to be if a packet service existed. In view of the long period during which the provisions of the Act of Anne had not been enforced in this respect, Pitt was unwilling to attempt to suppress the illegal practice which had grown up. He considered that in respect of outward letters the service performed by the Post Office, which amounted to no more than sealing the bags and handing them to the shipmaster, was insufficient to justify compulsory payment of packet postage. The proposal was therefore adopted only as a permissive measure: merchants were given the option of handing their letters to the Post Office. The Act authorizing the change empowered the Post Office to despatch and receive letters by vessels other than the regular sailing packets. On letters despatched by private ship the Post Office was authorized to charge half the packet rates in the case of letters for places to which a packet service existed; in cases in which no rate of postage was established, the charge was to be half the rates then paid, as near as could be ascertained.[688] On letters brought in by such vessels, in addition to the inland postage, a charge of 4d. a single letter, and so in proportion, was authorized. A fee of 2d. was payable to the master of the ship in respect of every letter delivered to or received from him by the Post Office in proper course.

A Ship Letter Office was opened on the 10th September 1799. No vessel was allowed to make entry or break bulk until letters brought by it had been handed over to the Post Office. The chief object in view was not, however, achieved. Letters sent out of the country by private ship still continued for the most part to be handed to the shipmaster without the intervention of the Post Office. Efforts were made to secure the assistance of coffee-house keepers as agents of the Post Office, but without success; and for many years the proportion between incoming and outgoing private ship letters was eighteen to one.[689]

In 1814 a further Ship Letter Act[690] raised the rate on inward single letters from 4d. to 6d., and made it compulsory to hand all outward ship letters to the Post Office to be charged. The East India Company, whose servants had previously been allowed to send and receive letters free, protested strongly against the new Act, although the official correspondence of the Company had been exempted. The Company pointed out that the Post Office

maintained no packet communication with the East Indies, and to charge postage was to levy a charge where no service was performed, and in effect to lay a tax on letter-writing. They had a stronger weapon than sound argument: the ships sailing between England and India were to a large extent controlled by them, and the Act laid no compulsion on the owners of private ships to carry letters for the Post Office. When, therefore, the Post Office requested the Company to carry post letters to India, the Company replied that they did "not see fit to authorize the commanders or owners of any of their ships to take charge of any bag of letters from the Post Office subjected to a rate of postage for sea conveyance."[691] In consequence of this difficulty an Act was passed in 1815 making it compulsory on all shipmasters to carry such mails as should be tendered to them by the Post Office. The Post Office was required to pay the owners a reasonable sum as remuneration for the carriage of the letters, the ordinary fee of 2d. a letter still being paid to the commander as a perquisite. The East India Company was placated by the concession of further exemptions in its favour. By this Act the rate of postage to India or the Cape was fixed at 14d. the ounce on letters, and on newspapers at 3d. the ounce—the first enactment providing a lower rate for newspapers than for letters in the foreign service.[692]

The result of this Act was eminently satisfactory. In the first eighteen months or so the postage on letters for India and the Cape of Good Hope amounted to £11,658, while the amount paid for the conveyance by private ship was only £1,250; although it should be explained that expense was incurred for less than half the number of despatches, the remainder being conveyed by his Majesty's ships, or by ships of the East India Company which were placed at the disposal of the Post Office free of charge.

Other minor changes were made in subsequent years. In 1836 a postal treaty was arranged with France, under which certain rates—in general, rates slightly lower than those previously in force—were agreed for all letters passing through France.

The rates for colonial letters were revised when uniform postage was introduced in the inland service. They were made chargeable according to weight, and for transmission to any port in the colonies were fixed generally at 1s. the ½ ounce.

In 1850, on political grounds, the Postmaster-General[693] proposed the establishment of a general 1s. rate for all colonial letters. The proposal was not immediately adopted, but a few years later a rate of 6d. the ½ ounce was established for all parts of the Empire

except India, the Cape, Mauritius, and Tasmania. This rate was extended to all the colonies in 1857, and to the United States in 1868. In 1869 the rate for letters to the United States, Canada, and Prince Edward Island was reduced to 3d. In 1875 the Universal Postal Union rate of 2½d. came into operation. The next great advance was the result mainly of the efforts of Sir J. Henniker Heaton, who for many years advocated the facilitation of postal intercourse, especially within the Empire. In 1898 penny postage was established between the United Kingdom and all the chief colonies except Australia, the Cape, and Natal. In 1905 these colonies joined, and were followed by Egypt and the Sudan.

In 1907 a special rate of 1d. a pound was established for magazines and trade journals posted in the United Kingdom, for Canada. The rate did not cover the cost of service, and its justification is to be sought in political considerations. In order to secure the low rate Canada undertook to defray the whole cost of ocean transport. Difficulties in regard to the financial arrangements arose subsequently, and on the 1st January 1915 the rate was altered to the following, viz. 1d. for the first 6 ounces, 1½d. for 1½ pounds, 2½d. for 2½ pounds, and so on.

Under the old system the rates of postage were for the most part nominal, that is to say, no attempt was made to adjust the rates to the actual cost of providing the service, although in allocating between the different States the total amount of postage, a rough assignment as between land and sea services was made.[694] The usual 6d. rate for single letters to and from the various colonies illustrates this. The actual cost of service must have varied greatly. In the case of the colonies other considerations, mainly political, were allowed to enter. In the case of foreign countries the whole arrangements for the interchange of correspondence were based on such agreements as could be arrived at, and the actual rates of

postage were determined in that way.[695] The chief difficulties in negotiations occurred in connection with the division between the contracting parties of the postage collected. The packet service was often conducted at a loss, and the rates of postage on foreign and colonial letters were not, in general, fixed with a view to rendering the service self-supporting, although this was regarded as a condition to be aimed at.[696]

By the Consolidating Acts of 1837 (1 Vict., cap. 34 & 36) the Postmaster-General was empowered to require the masters of outward-bound vessels to accept mails, and to deliver them without delay on arrival at the port of destination, under penalty of £200.

The general character of the foreign packet service was entirely changed by the introduction of steam propulsion, which greatly shortened the length of voyages and introduced a degree of punctuality and regularity hitherto undreamt of. Until this time the Post Office had, for many long-distance services, relied on its own packets; i.e. packets sailing under contract expressly for the conveyance of the mails and under the control of the Post Office. In 1818, with the introduction of steam vessels, this policy was changed and that of Crown ownership of the packets adopted. This method was found extremely costly, and the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry reported emphatically against it.[697]

The policy of providing for the service by contract was then reverted to. It now appeared, however, that vessels sailing for commercial purposes could be counted upon to sail and arrive regularly, and the Government desired therefore to make use of them for the despatch of mails. It was proposed to forward mails by the Great Western under the powers conferred on the Postmaster-General by the Act of 1837 (1 Vict. 34, § 19) for the prescribed remuneration (§ 24). The owners refused to carry mails on these terms, and the Law Officers advised that the Postmaster-General had no power, either by Statute or Common Law, to compel the owners to carry mails.[698] It was not found necessary, perhaps it was not deemed wise, to follow up the question of powers. In 1839 a contract was entered into with Samuel Cunard for the provision of a steamship service between England and North America, at a cost to the Post Office of £55,000 a year. This policy proved successful. It has been followed in the case of all the great routes, and has continued until the present day.

In considering the question of the rates of postage the sums

paid to the shipping companies are a little misleading. The payments were not then, and are not now, made solely from regard to the fact that the vessels convey mails. Other considerations, such as the desirability of encouraging the shipping industry, its value to the commerce of the nation, and the value of a strong mercantile marine as a naval reserve, have always entered largely into the question. It was in accordance with this view, and largely on account of abuses in the administration of the services by the Post Office which had come to light, that the control of the Post Office packet services and of contracts for the conveyance of mails by sea was in 1837 transferred from the Post Office to the Admiralty. The control was in 1860 retransferred to the Post Office, but the amount of the subsidies paid to steamship companies conveying mails has continued to be influenced by other than purely Post Office considerations. The chief development in this direction has been a legal decision obtained in 1889, in a dispute between the Post Office and the Cunard Steamship Company, which arose from an attempt by the Post Office to introduce the American system of despatching mails by the fastest ships available, and paying, not a general subsidy, but a sum calculated on the basis of the weight of mails carried. The High Court ruled that the Postmaster-General is entitled to have all such mails as he may think fit received on board any of the Company's ships and conveyed and delivered at the ports of destination without delay.[699] Failing agreement as to the payment to be made in respect of such services, the Post Office can fall back on its statutory right to the conveyance by merchant ship of all letter mails at the rate of a halfpenny a letter.

The extension of penny postage to all countries has been prevented simply by financial considerations.[700] In 1910 the question of establishing penny postage with France received a good deal of public attention both in this country and in France, but the Government were not prepared at that time to face the sacrifice of revenue.

III. THE THURN AND TAXIS POSTS IN GERMANY

The great number of the principalities which made up the Germany of the early Middle Ages, the mutual jealousy of the princes, and the indefinite authority of the Emperor, made the introduction of any sort of general system of communication extremely difficult. But for a long period before posts of the ordinary type were established in Germany, there existed throughout the Empire a system of messengers (Boten-Anstalten).

These establishments were maintained by the political administration, by the scholastic institutions, by political corporations, by merchant bodies, or by private individuals.[701] Their function was to effect the exchange of the correspondence of their founders. In addition, the occasional posts (Metzger), merchants travelling to the fairs, judicial and Imperial messengers, and pilgrim monks were much employed for the carrying of letters.

The system of Boten-Anstalten was widely extended, and its functions were not limited to the conveyance of letters.[702] Its messengers travelled some of the great routes, such as Hamburg-Stettin-Danzig; Hamburg-Leipzig-Nuremberg; Cologne-Frankfort-Augsburg; and these services were more or less permanent in character. Services on other routes were established to meet local or temporary needs, such as the assembly of the Reichstag, the meeting of the Electors, Peace Congresses, War Conferences, and fairs; and these services were discontinued when the occasion which had required them disappeared.

The organization of this system of messengers resembled in many ways that of ordinary posts: it was established and managed by the political authorities; the services were regular; the routes were fixed and stages were appointed; and the messengers undertook the conveyance of letters, goods, and persons, by foot, horse, or wagon.[703] At a later date letter-carriers were employed in some instances for the delivery of letters conveyed by the messenger services. A

charge of 3 pf. was raised on letters so delivered, the delivery charge on letters obtained directly from the Botenmeister being 1 pf.[704]

The intellectual awakening of the early sixteenth century, the great discoveries of that period and their effect on commerce, together with the tendency then developing towards amalgamation of the principalities and creation of larger political entities, all increased the necessity for an efficient system of intercommunication. The result is seen in the establishment of an Imperial system of posts.[705]

The regular Imperial posts were established towards the end of the fifteenth century by the Emperor Maximilian I. Johann von Taxis was the first Imperial Postmaster, and the earliest record of his tenure of the office is in 1489.[706] A decree suppressing the system of Boten-Anstalten and the Metzgerposten was issued, but these posts continued, and it was discovered at a later date that their continuance was not incompatible with the maintenance of a system of Imperial posts.[707]

The Imperial posts were to provide more particularly for the transmission of despatches, and their immediate object was to provide a means of obtaining information regarding the Turks, and a means of communication with the princes of neighbouring territories.[708] Their history is inseparable from that of the family of Thurn and Taxis, to whom their management was from the first entrusted. This family was of Italian origin, and before the establishment of the Imperial posts, Roger the First of Thurn and Taxis had established a horse-post between Italy and the Tyrol,

which proved of so much value to the Empire that as a reward Roger was made a chevalier. On the routes along which the Imperial posts were laid, stages were fixed at intervals of about 5 (German) miles, and messengers were stationed at each stage.[709] These messengers from the first enjoyed the privilege of exemption from all taxes and charges in all the countries through which the post routes passed. The posts were solely for the service of the Emperor, and at his charge; and at first, like the earlier messenger services, were established temporarily for special purposes, such as the movements of the Imperial Court, or to meet necessities arising from war; or permanently to provide services between distant and newly acquired territory.[710]

In 1500 Francis von Taxis was appointed capitaine et maître de nos postes at Ghent by Philip the Fair, son of the Emperor Maximilian I, and in 1505 a convention was concluded between Philip and von Taxis under which the latter undertook to establish a line of posts between the Court of Maximilian I, the Court of the French King, and the Spanish Court, for a payment of 12,000 livres a year. The German and Spanish services were intended to maintain permanent and regular communications. The French post was intended to facilitate diplomatic intercourse.[711] The time occupied in the transmission of letters between Innsbruck and Brussels at this period was 5½ days in summer and 6½ days in winter; between Paris and Brussels 44 hours; and between Granada and Brussels 15 days.

Owing to financial difficulties the payments to von Taxis from the royal exchequer could not be kept up, and in order to maintain the service another source of revenue had to be discovered. It was found in the acceptance for transmission by the posts of private letters, and in allowing the use of the posts by private persons desirous of travelling. This was made part of the ordinary business of the posts, with the reservation that the use of the posts by private persons should not interfere with or impede the official service.[712]

In 1512 the Emperor Maximilian conferred on Francis von Taxis, and on several others of his family, titles of hereditary nobility in the Empire and in the Austrian and Burgundian dominions, together with the dignity of Count Palsgrave.[713] In 1516 the Taxis posts were extended to Verona, Rome, and Naples, and were improved and accelerated. In 1615 the office of Imperial Postmaster-General was conferred on Lamoral von Taxis and his descendants as an hereditary fief.

The actual development of the posts was of a twofold character. At first the Taxis family were able to establish their posts in various parts of the Empire without opposition; the princes were themselves satisfied with their messenger systems, and were indisposed to establish posts on account of the heavy cost. But after a time, when the profitable character of the Taxis posts became apparent,[714] the princes questioned the right of the Imperial Postmaster-General to lay posts within their territories, and claimed that they alone possessed that right.[715] In 1597 the posts were proclaimed an Imperial reservation,[716] but this theory was never accepted by the princes.[717] The Taxis posts, therefore, never became general throughout the Empire. Eights were obtained in certain States, so that they became an important system reaching many parts of the Empire; but they did not altogether supplant the territorial services.[718]

In the early part of the seventeenth century the struggle against the monopoly of the Imperial posts developed. The States were jealous of the growing power of Austria, and political affinities were weakening. There was, moreover, some feeling against such an office being held by an alien family.[719] The Palatinate, Würtemberg, Saxony, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg established posts within their respective territories.[720] The whole question became involved

with the disputes which led up to the Thirty Years' War, and the princes found their position indirectly strengthened by the Peace of Westphalia, which contained no settlement of the disputes regarding the posts, but merely referred the question to the next Reichstag. Attempts were made to extend the Imperial posts, but much opposition was encountered. Nevertheless, the system continued to expand and attained considerable dimensions. The family held the exclusive right of carrying passengers as well as letters; and it was estimated that during the eighteenth century the house of Thurn and Taxis received a gross sum of 20,000 livres per day, and a net profit of four millions a year. Some 20,000 men, and a greater number of horses, were employed in the service.[721]

The Revolutionary Wars were disastrous to the system. The Taxis posts were in many instances replaced by territorial posts,[722] and by the Peace of Luneville (1801), which made the Rhine the boundary between France and Germany, the family lost control of all their posts to the west of the Rhine. They were, however, compensated for the loss of the revenues of those posts by a grant of territory (Reichs-Deputationshauptschluss of 25 February 1803).

In the following years the Prince of Taxis strengthened his position by a series of agreements with the German States, but with the establishment in 1806 of the Confederation of the Rhine and the abdication of the Emperor, the Holy Roman Empire and the Imperial posts fell together. In 1814 Prince Charles Anselm of Thurn and Taxis attempted unsuccessfully to regain possession of the posts in the Low Countries. The territorial posts were not, however, altogether satisfactory, and the rights of the Taxis family were restored by the Agreement of 1815, establishing the German Confederation; in pursuance of which the family recovered the posts in Electoral Hesse in 1816, in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Oldenburg, and Saxe-Coburg in 1817, Hesse-Darmstadt in 1818, and Würtemberg in 1819. The posts in other States were recovered in subsequent years, and in 1848 the Taxis posts comprised an area of 2,675 square (German) miles, with a yearly income of a million Marks.[723] In most cases a rent was paid to the State for the privilege of conducting the posts. Thus, Würtemberg received a

yearly payment of 70,000 florins, the Grand Duchy of Hesse of 25,000 florins, and Electoral Hesse of 40,000 thalers.[724] In addition, the Governments of the respective States were given considerable privileges in regard to free transmission of State correspondence, etc. The rates of postage charged compared favourably with those charged in the States in which territorial posts were established.[725] In 1850 the rates were simplified by the introduction of a scale based on three distance zones: not exceeding 15 miles, 4 kr. (1 sgr.); from 15 to 30 miles, 7 kr. (2 sgr.); and for distances exceeding 30 miles, 10 kr. (3 sgr.). In 1861 these rates were reduced to 3, 6, and 9 kr. respectively for the three zones.[726] In addition there was a local rate of 2 kr. (½ sgr.) for letters delivered within a distance of 3 miles. In some of the towns a still lower local rate, 1 kr. (¼ sgr.) was in operation.[727]

The Taxis posts were, however, still regarded with a good deal of jealousy, although it was recognized that in some ways the system was advantageous in providing a unified postal service for a large part of Germany at a time when it would have been difficult to arrange directly between the various States for the maintenance of a common service.

The situation was materially changed when, after the events of 1864-6, Prussia absorbed the duchies of the Elbe, Hanover,

Electoral Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Nassau and Frankfort. Prussia, of course, desired to assume control of the posts in these territories, which formed a large part of the whole Taxis system. After some discussion of the rights of the Taxis family, as a result of which it appeared that legally the system was well grounded, and could not be taken, therefore, from the Taxis family without compensation, the Prussian Government decided to buy up the rights of the family in the new Prussian territory.[728] The taking over of these posts would have left so small a system in the hands of the Taxis family that they preferred to negotiate for the transfer of the whole system to Prussia. The compensation to be paid was based mainly on consideration of the net revenue of the Taxis posts.

During the years 1855-65 this had been as follows:—

Florins.
1855-6405,582
1856-7579,218
1857-8692,884
1858-9500,412
1859-60638,801
1860-1648,519
1861-2464,751
1862-3583,409
1863-4753,917
1864-5724,405[729]

The amount of compensation was agreed at three million Marks. The sum was voted by the Prussian Parliament without debate, and on the 1st July 1867 Prussia assumed the control of the entire Taxis system of posts. The administration was amalgamated with that of the ordinary Prussian posts.

IV. PARCEL POST IN CANADA

Difficulties arising from the circumstances of the country made the early establishment of a parcel post system impracticable.[730]

For many years, however, a strong feeling in favour of a parcel post system existed, especially among the farmers of the West; and with the establishment of a service in the United States in 1913 it became impossible to withhold a similar service from Canada. The question was discussed in Parliament in January 1913, and, as the immediate adoption of a system was obviously desired, the

Government undertook to give the matter fullest consideration, with the view of submitting a scheme at an early date. The matter was really of some urgency since, under an existing Convention, although no internal parcel post service was in operation, Canada was called upon to carry throughout her territory parcels originating in the United States; and in June 1913, when the success of the service in the United States was seen to be assured, a Bill was introduced authorizing the establishment of a parcel post in Canada.

There could be no question of applying a flat rate in a country of such vast territories and scattered population;[731] and the Canadian system, like the American, is based on zones of distance. The limits of the zones correspond with the provincial boundaries. Each province forms a zone, with a flat rate within its borders; a rate as for an additional zone is charged on parcels crossing into an adjoining province; and a rate as for a third zone on parcels crossing an intermediate province to a third province; and so on. The three maritime provinces are grouped together as one zone, and a special local zone rate is given for parcels delivered within 20 miles of the place of posting. This local rate is independent of the provincial boundaries. It is a concession to the storekeepers of the smaller towns, given chiefly for their protection against the competition of the great departmental stores of Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg.

The determination of the actual amount of the rates was left to the Post Office department, with the proviso that they must be such as would make the service self-supporting.

The service was introduced in April 1914, with the following rates of charge:—

(a) Five cents for the first pound and 1 cent for each additional pound or fraction thereof, up to four pounds, and 2 cents for each subsequent pound up to eleven pounds within a radius of 20 miles from the place of mailing, irrespective of provincial boundaries.

(b) Ten cents for the first pound and 4 cents for each subsequent pound or fraction thereof, for all points in the province in which a parcel is posted, outside of the 20-mile radius.

(c) Ten cents for the first pound and 6 cents for each additional pound or fraction thereof, for all points outside the province in which a parcel is posted, and beyond the 20-mile radius, with an additional charge of 2 cents a pound

for each province that has to be crossed to the destination of the parcel, not including the province in which it is to be delivered, up to a maximum of 12 cents a pound.[732]

An additional charge to meet the extra cost of transportation is made on parcels addressed to or posted at offices in certain outlying districts when the parcels have to be conveyed on stage routes over 100 miles in length.

Statistics of the number of parcels dealt with are not taken by the Canada Post Office.

V. THE SUPPLEMENTAL SERVICES

In connection with the transmission of postal packets, other services, which are supplemental, and in some cases complementary, have been added, e.g. registration and insurance, in order that senders may protect themselves against loss or damage of packets in the post.[733] Closely allied to the transmission of ordinary letters is the transmission of money from place to place, and from early times the Post Office has also undertaken this function for appropriate fees. This is the money order and postal order business. These services apply only to a very small proportion of the total number of packets posted, and may in general be regarded as exceptional.[734]

In addition to these supplemental functions, the Post Office has usually been called upon to undertake services which have little or no relation to the transmission of letters from place to place. Thus, the British Post Office conducts a Savings Bank, undertakes the issue of certain local taxation licences (gun and dog licences, etc.) on behalf of the Inland Revenue Department and local authorities, pays Old Age Pensions, sells stamps on behalf of the National Health and Unemployment Insurance Commissioners, exhibits certain Government notices in the windows of post offices, and, in general, stands ready to perform any service to which, by reason of its ramifications reaching to the remotest part of the kingdom, it may be specially well adapted.[735] In many countries the Post Office has assumed the control of the telegraph or telephone systems, or

both—this, of course, largely in consideration of the close affinity between the essential character of those services—transmission from place to place of information and intelligence—and the primary function of the Post Office; and in consideration of the tendency of those services, like the letter service, to develop on monopolistic lines.[736] In continental countries the Government control of the telegraphs has been regarded as a military necessity.[737] The assumption of these functions has no necessary relation to the rates charged for the transmission of packets, but the circumstances under which the services are conducted, whether at a profit or at a loss, may indirectly affect the rates.

VI. POST OFFICE REVENUE

In England, Germany, and France the Post Office has, almost from the first, been a source of revenue to the State. What has happened has been that since the reform the Governments have been glad to take whatever net revenue a penny rate would yield, but, in general, they have not been prepared to raise that rate in order to obtain a greater revenue.[738] The only one of the five

countries which does not make, and on principle does not wish to make, a revenue out of the Post Office is the United States of America.

The penny letter rate is not by any means as low as the cost of the service. It is, however, not a burdensome charge in any circumstances, and, although so much greater than the cost, represents in a large number of instances much less than the full measure of benefit which the provision of the service confers on the beneficiary. This is, of course, the ordinary case of the purchaser of a commodity securing a "consumer's surplus."[739] Rates which yield a profit of 50 per cent. (pp. [76] and [311]) must, however, be admitted to contain some element of taxation. In France particularly the Post Office occupies a definite place in the fiscal system.[740] There is, however, considerable diversity of opinion among economists with regard to the theoretical character of this revenue. Indeed, the general classification of public revenues is itself not yet agreed upon.[741] Under any classification

there is difficulty in assigning a place for the Post Office revenue. With the simplest and most fundamental division it has been regarded as falling under one or other heading, according to the notion of the writer, or in accordance with certain changes of conception based on variations in attendant circumstances.[742]

The difficulty of classification arises from the fact that of the total amount of the postage charges actually levied, only a portion can in any case be regarded as taxation. A person who purchases a commodity from the State, but in purchasing it is charged something more than its actual value, is not taxed to the extent of the whole of the amount which he is charged. There can be no taxation in that part of the amount for which he receives equivalent value in the commodity purchased. It is easy to say of the gross postal revenue that so much is tax (i.e. the net revenue), and so much is cost of service (i.e. the actual expenses), though it may not be easy to justify even this distinction;[743] but what principle is to be followed in determining whether a particular postage charge (e.g. the letter rate or the parcel rate), or any part of it, is taxation?

Taxes are reckoned according to the rate of charge. Thus, the income tax is 2s. 3d. in the pound on earned incomes; but approached in this way postage is not a tax. If the charge only covers the cost of the service, there can be no tax.[744] And when there

is a surplus (above normal commercial profit) it cannot be argued that the whole charge becomes a tax. The solution seems to be that in such a case it is neither tax nor industrial price. It contains elements of both, and cannot be classed wholly under either.[745]

The differing analyses of Post Office revenue result largely from their being based on consideration of the balance-sheet of the Post Office, as indicating whether postal charges are to be regarded as taxes.[746] The character of postal charges should not, however, be

determined by reference solely to the amount of the surplus revenue. The true classification rests on the conception that the character of public revenue (including Post Office revenue) varies with varying circumstances.[747]

The penny letter rate is a source of very considerable profit, and is therefore not a pure price. Nor can it be said that this penny rate, although it is the source of practically all the profit, is a pure tax. In the case of a large number of letters there is no surplus beyond the cost of the service, and often the cost is greater than the yield of the postage on the particular letters dealt with. In such cases the rate does not contain any element of tax. In other cases the proportion of surplus over cost which the rate yields is exceedingly large.[748] But in all cases it contains some element of remuneration

for service rendered. That part of it which is appropriated to cover the cost of conducting the service is of the nature of a price for a service rendered. The remaining part (when found), after allowance has been made for the element of monopoly, is a tax.[749] But it does not exist in all cases. Three categories of letters are therefore found; and the letter rate in general may, according to the circumstances under which the service is rendered, be (1) of composite character, partly price and partly tax, (2) a pure price, (3) a mere fee.

The other rates (excepting for the moment the parcel rate) have all for some specific purpose of State been fixed at a lower level than the letter rate; but, for the most part, without any nice adjustment to the cost of service. Consequently these subsidiary rates are not prices, and do not contain any element of taxation.[750] They are, however, charges made to individuals in respect of certain services performed by the State, and fall, therefore, under the heading of fees.

The parcel rates in England and Germany may be put under the same heading. In both cases the service is conducted at a loss, and the charges cannot therefore be regarded as prices. In

the United States and in Canada the law provides that the rates for parcels must in all cases be such as to yield a revenue sufficient to cover the cost of the service, and the presumption is therefore that in those countries the rates will partake of the nature of prices.[751]

Although there has been diversity of opinion regarding the nature of Post Office revenue, there has been remarkable unanimity as to the propriety of raising a net revenue for the State on the service for the transmission of letters. In the days of high rates and relatively high revenue it was not challenged.[752] Sir Rowland

Hill's reform took away any sort of feeling that the revenue obtained from the Post Office lay as a burdensome tax, but the amount of surplus revenue was still so considerable that it could fairly be regarded as containing an element of tax.[753] It has, moreover, steadily increased, and its existence been made the justification for claims for further reductions of rate.[754]

The use of the Post Office for the purpose of taxation, that is, the refusal to give away in improvements of service, or by reduction of rates, the net surplus of revenue, is accepted by economists as justifiable[755] and the public acquiesces. The surplus

is obtained with the minimum of sacrifice on the part of those who pay, and it would be difficult to discover a tax in substitution which would fall as lightly. Apart from the fact that rates higher than would be necessary for defraying the actual cost of the service must of necessity operate to some extent to the disadvantage of trade and commerce,[756] there is little to urge against the raising of revenue from the Post Office, especially as it is obtained from such popular charges as a penny and a halfpenny, which are well within the reach of the poorest. Payment is, moreover, in a large degree voluntary. The number of letters which a private individual must write, and cannot avoid writing, in the course of a year is very small. If he has anything of importance to write, he does not think a penny an excessive sum to pay for its transmission. If he has nothing to write, there is no law to compel him to pay postage. The profits of postage are, however, large; and the existence of the State monopoly, and the essentially fiscal character of the rates charged, should not be overlooked.[757]

VII. GRAPHS

APPENDIX B
DOCUMENTS AND EXTRACTS ILLUSTRATING ASPECTS OF POSTAL HISTORY

(i) Ancient Posts.

Persia (circa b. c. 500).

"In Darius's idea of government was included rapidity of communication. Regarding it as of the utmost importance that the orders of the Court should be speedily transmitted to the provincial Governors, and that their reports and those of the royal secretaries should be received without needless delay, he established along the lines of route already existing between the chief cities of the Empire, a number of post-houses, placed at regular intervals, according to the estimated capacity of a horse to gallop at his best speed without stopping. At each post-house were maintained, at the cost of the State, a number of couriers and several relays of horses. When a despatch was to be forwarded, it was taken to the first post-house along the route, where a courier received it, and immediately mounting on horseback, galloped with it to the next station. Here it was delivered to a new courier, who, mounted on a fresh horse, took it the next stage on its journey; and thus it passed from hand to hand till it reached its destination. According to Xenophon, the messengers travelled by night as well as by day; and the conveyance was so rapid that some even compared it to the flight of birds. Excellent inns or caravanserais were to be found at every station; bridges or ferries were established upon all the streams; guard-houses occurred here and there, and the whole route was kept secure from the brigands who infested the Empire. Ordinary travellers were glad to pursue so convenient a line of march; it does not appear, however, that they could obtain the use of post-horses, even when the Government was in no need of them.

"Note.—It was not the distance a horse ridden gently could

accomplish in the entire day, but the distance he could bear to be galloped once a day. From the account which Herodotus gives of the post-route between Sardis and Susa, we may gather that the Persians fixed this distance at about fourteen miles."—George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, London, 1871, vol. iii. pp. 426-7.

Roman Empire.

"The advantage of receiving the earliest intelligence, and of conveying their orders with celerity, induced the Emperors to establish throughout their extensive dominions the regular institution of posts. Houses were everywhere erected at the distance only of five or six miles; each of them was constantly provided with forty horses, and, by the help of these relays, it was easy to travel an hundred miles in a day along the Roman roads. The use of the posts was allowed to those who claimed it by an Imperial mandate; but though originally intended for the public service, it was sometimes indulged to the business or conveniency of private citizens (Pliny, though a favourite and a minister, made an apology for granting post-horses to his wife on the most urgent business)."—Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, ed. 1896, vol. i. p. 50.

Arabia.

"The first traces of the Arabian postal arrangements date from about fifty years after the death of Mahomed. Calif Mdowija, who died in 679, is regarded as the founder of the Arabian posts. Kodama, a native of Bagdad, who died in 959, gives an account of the service in his work called The Book of Taxes. There were 930 postal stations on the six great highroads starting from Bagdad. At some stations there were relays of horses, but in Syria and Arabia the messengers rode on camels; and in Persia the letters were conveyed from station to station by messengers on foot. The postal service under the Califs was an independent branch of the administration, and in addition to the conveyance of despatches and travellers was added the supervision of all the authorities in outlying possessions. Of the two classes of superior postal officers, the nowaqquium was the postmaster who received the postal packets and letters and attended to their conveyance, whereas the farwaneqqyun was a kind of chief postmaster at the capital of a province, who controlled the work of the postmasters and made his own report on all the civil and military authorities to

the central office in Bagdad. These reports were so valuable that Calif Abu Djafar Manssur is credited with the statement: 'My throne rests on four pillars, and my power on four men—a blameless kazi (judge), an energetic chief of police, an honest minister of finance, and a faithful postmaster who gives me reliable information on everything.' It has been said that the Roman cursus publicus, the frumentarii, the agentes in rebus, and the curiosi served a similar purpose, but the Arabian arrangement was more systematic. In the Post Office of the Califs the letters and packets posted, as well as those received from other places, were entered in special lists, where their number and address had to be stated. This practice was observed in India till a few years ago, and it will thus be seen that the letter bill of the modern posts was in use already among the Egyptians in 270 b.c., and also among the Arabs. From the information that has been preserved, it is inferred that the Arabian posts did, to a certain extent, transmit private letters, but this was not done officially, and the couriers and postmasters conveyed such correspondence, along with the official despatches, on their own account."—I. G. J. Hamilton, Outline of Postal History, Calcutta, 1910, p. 4.

Mexico.

"Communication was maintained with the remotest parts of the country by means of couriers. Post-houses were established on the great roads, about two leagues distant from each other. The courier, bearing his despatches in the form of a hieroglyphical painting, ran with them to the first station, where they were taken by another messenger and carried forward to the next; and so on till they reached the capital. These couriers, trained from childhood, travelled with incredible swiftness—not four or five leagues an hour, as an old chronicler would make us believe, but with such speed that despatches were carried from one to two hundred miles a day. Fresh fish was frequently served at Montezuma's table in twenty-four hours from the time it had been taken in the Gulf of Mexico, two hundred miles from the capital. In this way intelligence of the movements of the royal armies was rapidly brought to Court; and the dress of the courier, denoting by its colour the nature of his tidings, spread joy or consternation in the towns through which he passed."—W. H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, London, 1903, pp. 20, 21.

A similar system existed in Peru (W. H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Peru, Philadelphia, 1874, vol. i. p. 69).

China.

"From the city of Kanbulu[758] there are many roads leading to the different provinces, and upon each of these, that is to say, upon every great highroad, at the distance of twenty-five or thirty miles, accordingly as the towns happen to be situated, there are stations, with houses of accommodation for travellers, called yamb or post-houses. These are large and handsome buildings, having several well-furnished apartments hung with silk, and provided with everything suitable to persons of rank. Even kings may be lodged at these stations in a becoming manner, as every article required may be obtained from the towns and strong places in the vicinity; and for some of them the Court makes regular provision. At each station four hundred good horses are kept in constant readiness, in order that all messengers going and coming upon the business of the grand khan, and all ambassadors, may have relays, and, leaving their jaded horses, be supplied with fresh ones.... When it is necessary that messengers should proceed with extraordinary despatch, as in the cases of giving information of disturbance in any part of the country, the rebellion of a chief or other important matter, they ride two hundred, or sometimes two hundred and fifty miles in the course of a day."—Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian, London, 1904, pp. 190 et seq.

(ii) Nuncii and Cursores.

"The Royal Nuncii et Cursores constituted a very important branch of the Royal Establishment, and the payments to them form a very large and important item in the Household and Wardrobe Accounts from the earliest period when those accounts exist.

"These Messengers were employed both in England and in foreign parts, and as well on affairs of State as what may be considered as the private and confidential business of the Crown and Royal Family and the individuals attached to or composing the Royal Court. These Messengers, so attached to the Court, became the foundation of the establishment, which about the time of Henry VIII, or somewhat earlier, assumed the form of the regular establishment of the Post; and the information connected with them is important, as showing that the institution was intimately connected with the person of the sovereign, and that, in the first instance, it was his convenience that was sought. Those servants who, by usage, were more particularly employed on State affairs, probably became those who are now specially termed the 'Queen's

Messengers.'"—Report from Secret Committee on the Post Office (Commons), 1844, Appx., p. 21.

(iii) Witherings' Scheme for the Reform of the Posts, 1635.

A Proposition for setling of Staffets or pacquet posts betwixt London and all parts of his Maiesties dominions, for the carrying and recarrying of his subiects lr̃es. The cleere proffitt whereof to goe towards the payment of the Postmrs of ye Roades of England, for wch his Matie is now chardged wth 3400l. p añm.

In the first place, a certen office or compting house to be by his Matie appointed wthin the cittie of London, of purpose for carrying out & receiving in of all Lr̃es to be conveyed from ye cittie of London into all pts wthin his Mats dominions & answers thereof retorned to the said Cittie of London, according as occasion shall serve.

Inprimis, for the Northerne and Scotland roade, All lr̃es to be put into one Portmantle that shalbe directed to Edenburgh in Scotland, and for all places of the sd roade, or neere the sd roade, to be accordinglie put into ye sd Portmantle, wth p̱ticuler baggs directed to such Postmrs as live upon the Road neere unto any Cittie or Towne Corporate.

As for Example—

One Bagge to be directed to Cambridge wth such lr̃es therein as shalbe directed to that place or neere thereunto; to take port for them as is now pd̃ to the Carriers, wch is Two pence a single lr̃e, and so accordinglie as they shalbe in bignes. At Cambridge a footpost to be provided, wth a knowne badge of his Mats Armes, whome upon the markett daies is to goe to all Townes wthin 6: 8: or 10 miles, there to receive & deliver all such lr̃es as shalbe directed to those places. The lr̃es that the sd footpost shall then and there receive, hee is to bring them to the sd Towne of Cambridge before the retorne of the Portmantle out of Scotland, wch is to retorne at a certen daie & houre, by wch meanes they maie be upon the verie instante comeing back of the sd Portmantle, as before, put into a little bagge, wch sd bagg is to be put into ye sd Portmantle as aforesaid. It is alwaies to be understood that upon the verie instant cominge of the Portmantle to Cambridge, the bagg of lr̃es for that place & thereaboutes ymmediatly to be tooke out of the sd Portmantle; the said Portmantle being presentlie to goe forwards, night and day, wthout stay, to Huntingdon, wth fresh horse & man. At wch place

the like rule is to be observed as before at Cambridge, & so the sd Portmantle is to goe from Stage to Stage, night & day, till it shall come to Edenburgh. The bags of lr̃es to be left at all Stages as at Cambridge and Huntingdon, as before.

Only it is to be understood, that the further the lr̃es shall goe, the port thereof is to be advanced, as to 3d, 4d, & 6d, & to Scotland more. By this way of carrying and recarrying of lr̃es, his Mats subjects shall, once in 6 daies, receive answer from Edenburgh in Scotland, and so consequently from all pts betwixt London & Scotland.

The daie and howre of the comeing and going of the sd Portmantle to and from London to be alwaies certaine. By wch meanes all Stages upon the Road will knowe at what certen howre the Portmantle is to come to yt place.

It is truth it maie be alledged, that some Citties & Townes of noate will lye so farre from any of the mayne Roads of England, as Hull & other Townes of noate upon the Sea coasts, as that it wilbe impossible for a footman to carry and recarry the sd lr̃es wthin such time as shalbe limitted: for remedie thereof a horse is to be provided for the sd footpost, for the execuc̃on of the sd service wth more expedic̃on.

The like rule is to be observed to Westchester & so to Ireland.

The like rule is to be observed to Oxford, Bristoll, & so to Ireland.

The like rule is to be observed to Worcester, Shrewesbury, and so to ye Marches of Wales.

The like rule to be observed to Exceter, & so to Plymouth.

The like rule to be observed to Canterbury, & so to Dovor.

The like rule to be observed to Chelmesford, Colchester, and so to Harwch.

The like rule to be observed to Newmarket, Bury, Norwch, and so to Yarmouth.

In the first place, it wilbe a great furtherance to the correspondency betwixt London & Scotland, & London & Ireland, and great help to Trades, & true affecc̃on of his Mats subiects betwixt theis kingdomes, which, for want of true correspondency of lr̃es, is now destroyed, & a thing above all things observed by all other nations.

As for Example—

If anie of his Mats subiects shall write to Madrill, in Spain, hee shall receive answer sooner & surer then hee shall out of Scotland or Ireland. The lr̃es being now carried by carriers or footposts 16 or 18 miles a day, it is full two monthes before any answer can be received from Scotland or Ireland to London, wch by this Conveyance

all lr̃es shall goe 120 miles at ye least in one day & night.

It will Secondlie be alledged, that it is a wrong to the Carriers that bring the said letters. To which is answered, a Carrier setts out from Westchester to London on the Mundaie, wch is 120 miles. The sd Carrier is 8 daies upon the Road, and upon his cominge to London delivers his letters of advise for his relodinge to Westchester againe, and his forced to staie in London two daies at extraordinary charges before he can get his loding redy.

By this Conveyance lr̃es wilbe frō Westchester to London in one day & night, so that the sd Carriers loading wilbe made ready a weeke before the sd Carriers shall come to London, and they no sooner come to London but maie be redy to depte againe.

The like will fall out in all other pts.

Besides, if at any time there should be occasion to write from anie of the coast Townes in England or Scotland to London, by this Conveyance lr̃es wilbe brought ymmediatly: & from all such places there wilbe weekely advise to & from London.

As for Example—

Anie fight at Sea: any distress of his Mats shipps, (wch Godd forbidd), anie wrong offered by any other nation to any of ye Coaste of England, or anie of his Mats forts: the Posts being punctually paid, the newes will come sooner then thought.

It wilbe, thirdlie, alledged that this service maie be p̑tended by the Lo: Stanhope to be in his graunt of Post Mr of England. To wch is answered, neither the Lo: Stanhope, nor anie other that ever enjoyed the Postms place of England, had any benefitt of the carrying and recarrying of the subiects Lr̃es: beside, the profitt is to paie ye Posts of the Road, wch next unto his Matie, belong to ye office of the sd Lo: Stanhope, and upon determinac̃on of any of the sd Posts places, by death or otherwise, the Lo: Stanhope will make as much of them as hath heretofore bin made by this said advancement of all theire places.

The Lord Stanhope now enioying what either hee or any of his Predecessos hath ever heretofore done to this day.

(Indorsed by Sec. Coke)
"Proposition for Missive Letters."

—Report from Secret Committee on the Post Office (Commons), 1844, Appx., pp. 55-6.

(iv) The Monopoly and the General Farm of the Posts.

No. 1.

"Whereas heretofore sundry wayes have bene devised to redresse the disorders among the postes of our realme in generall, and particularly

to prevent the inconveniences, both to our owne service and the lawfull trade of the honest merchants, by prohibiting that no persons whatsoever should take upon them, publiquely or privately, to procure, gather up, receive ... any packets or letters to or from the countreys beyond the seas, except such our ordinarie posts and messengers for those parties, etc."—royal Proclamation, April 26th 1591.

No. 2.

"There has long been a constant trade betwixt London and Norwich in sundry sorts of stuffs and stockings made in Norwich and Norfolk, which trade has always been maintained by the merchants of Norwich employing their stocks in buying wares of the makers and sending them up weekly in carts by common carriers to London, whence they are dispersed into all parts of this kingdom, and also exported to foreign parts, in which intercourse of trade we always had our letters safely and speedily carried by our common carrier, by a horseman, not in manner of postage by change of horses, but as is usual by common carriers, and for little or no charge to us. Of late Mr. Witherings has intercepted our letters and molested our carriers, forbidding them to carry any of our letters otherwise than to go along with their carts, and no faster."—Petition to Privy Council, 1638; J. W. Hyde, The Post in Grant and Farm, London, 1894, p. 131.

No. 3.

" ... By a Proclamation dated about July 1635 his Majestie did expresse his pleasure, that Thomas Witherings should have the carriage of the said letters who would settle it in a better and more speedy course; thereupon he undertook the said work, and for a long time, after his said undertaking, it cost him some weeks 20l. 30l. 40l. more than he received, to the great weakening and hazard of the ruine of his estate. It is verie true, that untill he had his patent of his Office granted unto him for his life, which was in the yeare 1637, he did in some places lay horses of his owne, in others he did make use of the ordinarie Post-horses, and because he desired quick dispatch, hee paid them for a guide and a horse to carrie the male 6d. per mile, after not conceiving a guide necessarie he made only use of one horse, and paid 3d. per mile.... for the other Posts, they have 3d. per mile which is more than ordinarie pay. But the objection which seems to carrie the greatest shew,

or colour of probabilitie with it is; That the Pmrs had formerly 4,000l. per annum fee, onely for carrying his Majesties packets, that Witherings hath reduced this to 2,053l. per annum, and yet puts a greater burthen upon them by carrying his male; hath displaced many of them and received 4,000l. for Post places."—Full and cleare answer to a false and scandalous Paper entituled: The humble Remonstrance of the grievances of all his Majesties Posts of England, together with Carriers, Waggoners, etc., 1641, pp. 2, 3.

No. 4.

Reasons presented to the Committee for Postmasters why the office should not be farmed:—

(1) What is of public interest, if farmed, often becomes a great public grievance.

(2) The postmasters who have served faithfully and others who run best to Lynn, Yarmouth, etc., must be restrained and will complain as they did in 1642 to the late Parliament which ordered them redress.

(3) By farming, the pay of postmasters will be made so inconsiderable that they will grow careless.

(4) The expectations of the people now at this juncture so highly raised to hopes of ease and freedom, will be disappointed when they see new monopolies.

Suggestions for reducing the office into one channel, for easing the people, encouraging the postmasters and raising money for the public:—

1. To declare it unsafe for private persons to erect post stages without licence.

2. To chose faithful persons in all the roads and appoint a supervisor on each road.

3. To declare that you have appointed them postmasters and give power to their controller only to sign labels for speedy conveyance of mails and give them writs of assistance.

Signed by Robert Girdler and seven others.—Calendar of State Papers (Domestic Series), 26th November, 1652.

No. 5.

Offers of the well-affected postmasters to the Posts' Committee....

The order of the Council in the case of the Inland Post Office being that it be improved to the greatest advantage either by farm or account, they conceive the advantages consist not so much in the

advance of money, as the service and safety of the State, and beg to offer,

1. That persons of known integrity may be employed in all parts, and a sufficient salary allowed, as becomes a trust of that great concernment.

2. That a fit person be appointed for the control thereof, according to orders from the State, etc.

3. As righteousness exalteth a nation, it is hoped that after the expense of so much blood and treasure, the very things adjudged and condemned in others (viz. monopolies) will not now be practised, but that next to public safety, you will be tender of the people's just liberty; for both by the laws of God and man it is lawful for every man to employ himself in a lawful calling, especially in that to which he has been bred, and it is also lawful for divers men to employ themselves in one calling, otherwise there must be as many callings as men.

4. For avoiding of many inconveniencies that will follow in the farming of it, viz.

The persons depositing or obliging themselves for so much money a year, will not lay out themselves and their estates without expectation of profit, which must arise either out of the people's letters or postmasters' labour, besides the hazard to the Commonwealth; for notwithstanding the faithfulness of the postmasters yet if they will not do their work at their rates (which may prove an oppression too heavy, like that in Egypt) others shall.—Calendar of State Papers (Domestic Series), May 1653.

No. 6.

"Petition of John Mann, Mayor, and 22 aldermen & inhabitants of Norwich:—

"Having much commerce with London we have always employed a faithful and careful messenger to carry letters, bills of exchange, etc., but he has lately been molested by John Manley whose agents have not only rifled and detained our letters and goods, but charged more than double price for small parcels of ware, which is a greater burden to many of us than the monthly assessment....

"Having bought our liberties at vast expense of blood and treasure, we hope not again to be troubled with distasteful monopolies but to have liberty to convey our letters freely."—Calendar of State Papers (Domestic Series), 1653-4, p. 25.

No. 7.

"Also it hinders a man to be as civil as otherwise he would, or might be, in having, or returning an accompt to, or from his friend,

many a man in these times being forced to set a greater value of 6d. or 3d. then of three times as much in former times, when money was more plentiful; and certainly any man but a Farmer wil confess it to be a strange imposition, that a man cannot have an accompt of the condition of his Wife or Family, without paying thrice as much as he need; & it seems as unreasonable for a man to be forced to pay 3d. for what may be done for a penny, (in relation to Letters) as for a man to be compelled to pay thrice as much for meat or any other commodity, as the price currant."—J. Hill, A Penny Post, London, 1659, p. 7.

No. 8.
1657, Cap. 30.

Postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland settled.

"Whereas it hath been found by experience, That the Erection and Settling of one General Post Office, for the speedy Conveying, Carrying, and Re-carrying of Letters by Post, to and from all Places within England, Scotland and Ireland, and into several parts beyond the Seas, hath been, and is the best means, not only to maintain a certain and constant Intercourse of Trade and Commerce betwixt all the said Places, to the great benefit of the People of these Nations, but also to convey the Publique Despatches, and to discover and prevent many dangerous, and wicked Designs, which have been and are daily contrived against the Peace and Welfare of this Commonwealth, the Intellegence whereof cannot well be Communicated, but by Letter of Escript,

"Be it Enacted by His Highness the Lord Protector and the Parliament, And it is Enacted and Ordained by Authority thereof, That from henceforth there be one General Office, to be called and known by the name of the Post Office of England, and one Officer from time to time to be nominated, etc."—H. Scobell, A Collection of Acts and Ordinances, London, 1658, p. 511.

(v) Extract from "The Present State of London,"

By Tho. de Laune, Gent., London, 1681.
Of the Post-office.

This Office is now kept in Lumbard-street, formerly in Bishopsgate-street, the Profits of it are by Act of Parliament settled on his Royal Highness the Duke of York. But the King by Letters Patents, under the Great Seal of England, constitutes the Post-Master-General.

From this General Office, Letters and Packets are dispatched:

On Mondays—
To France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Flanders, Sweedland, Denmark, Kent, and the Downs.
On Tuesdays—
To Holland, Germany, Sweedland, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, and all parts of England and Wales.
On Wednesdays—
To all parts of Kent, and the Downs.
On Thursdays—
To France, Spain, Italy, and all parts of England and Scotland.
On Fridays—
To Flanders, Germany, Italy, Sweedland, Denmark, Holland, Kent, and the Downs.
On Saturdays—
All parts of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Letters are returned from all parts of England and Scotland, certainly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; from Wales every Monday and Friday; and from Kent and the Downs every day: But from other parts more uncertainly, in regard of the Sea.

A Letter containing a whole sheet of Paper is convey'd 80 Miles for 2d. two sheets for 4d. and an Ounce of Letters for 8d. and so proportionably; a Letter containing a sheet is conveyed above 80 miles for 3d. two sheets for 6d. and every Ounce of Letters for 12d. A sheet is conveyed to Dublin for 6d. two for a shilling, and an Ounce of Letters for 12d.

This Conveyance by Post is done in so short a time, by night as well as by day, that every 24 hours, the Post goes 120 Miles, and in five days, an answer of a Letter may be had from a Place 300 Miles distant from the Writer.

Moreover, if any Gentlemen desire to ride Post, to any Principal Town of England, Post Horses are always in readiness, (taking no Horse without the consent of his owner) which in other Kings Reigns was not duly observed; and only 3d. is demanded for every English Mile, and for every Stage to the Post-Boy, 4d. For conducting.

Besides this Excellent convenience of conveying Letters, and Men on Horse-back, there is of late such an admirable commodiousness, both for Men and Women of better rank, to travel from London, and to almost all the Villages near this great City, that the like hath not been known in the World, and that is by Stage-Coaches, wherein one may be transported to any place, sheltred from foul Weather, and foul ways, free from endamaging

ones Health or Body by hard jogging, or over violent motion; and this not only at a low price, as about a shilling for every five Miles, but with such velocity and speed, as that the Posts in some Foreign Countries, make not more Miles in a day; for the Stage-Coaches, called Flying-Coaches, make forty or fifty Miles in a day, as from London to Oxford or Cambridge, and that in the space of twelve hours, not counting the time for Dining, setting forth not too early, nor coming in too late.

The several Rates that now are and have been taken for the Carriage of Letters, Pacquets, and Parcels, to or from any of His Majesties Dominions, to or from any other parts or places beyond the Seas, are as followeth, that is to say,

s.d.
Morlaix, St. Maloes, Caen, Newhaven, and places of like distance, Carriage paid to Rouen{Single06
Double10
Treble16
Ounce16
Hamburgh, Colen, Frankfort, Carriage paid to Antwerp, is{Single08
Double14
Treble20
Ounce20
Venice, Geneva, Legorn, Rome, Naples, Messina, and all other parts of Italy by way of Venice, Franct pro Mantua{Single09
Double16
Treble23
Ounce28
Marseilles, Smirna, Constantinople, Aleppo, and all parts of Turky, Carriage paid to Marseilles{Single10
Double20
¾ Ounce29
Ounce28
And for Letters brought from the same places to England{Single08
Double14
Treble20
Ounce20
The Carriage of Letters brought into England, from Calice, Diep, Bulloign, Abbeville, Amiens, St. Omers, Montrel{Single04
Double08
Treble10
Ounce10
Rouen{Single06
Double10
Treble16
Ounce16
Genoua, Legorn, Rome, and other parts of Italy by way of Lyons, Franct pro Lyons{Single10
Double20
¾ Ounce29
Ounce39
The Carriage of Letters Outwards—
To Bourdeaux, Rochel, Nants, Orleans, Bayon, Tours, and places of like distance, Carriage paid to Paris{Single09
Double16
Treble23
Ounce20
Letters brought from the same places into England{Single10
Double20
¾ Ounce30
Ounce40
The Carriage of Letters Outwards—
To Norembourgh, Bremen, Dantzick, Lubeck, Lipswick, and other places of like distance, Carriage paid to Hamburgh{Single10
Double20
¾ Ounce30
Ounce40
Paris{Single09
Double16
Treble23
Ounce20
Dunkirk, Ostend, Lisle, Ipers, Cambray, Ghent, Bruxels, Bruges, Antwerp, and all other parts of Flanders.
Sluce, Flushing, Middleburgh, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delph, Hague, and all other parts of Holland and Zealand.		{Single08
Double14
Treble20
Ounce20

All Merchants Accounts, not exceeding a Sheet, Bills of Exchange, Invoices, Bills of Lading, shall be allowed without rate in the price of the Letters, and also the Covers of the Letters not exceeding a Sheet, to Marseilles, Venice, or Legorn, towards Turkie.

The said Office is managed by a Deputy, and other Officers to the Number of seventy seven persons; who give their actual attendance respectively, in the dispatch of the business.

Upon this Grand Office, depends one hundred eighty two Deputy-Post-Masters in England and Scotland; most of which keep Regular Offices in their Stages, and Sub-Post-Masters in their Branches; and also in Ireland, another General Office for that Kingdom, which is kept in Dublin, consisting of Eighteen like Officers, and Forty-five Deputy-Post-Masters.

The Present Post-Master-General, keeps constantly, for the transport of the said Letters and Pacquets;

Between England and{France, two Pacquet-Boats.
Flanders, two Pacquet-Boats.
Holland, three Pacquet-Boats.
Ireland, three Pacquet-Boats.
And at Deal, two Pacquet-Boats for the Downs.

All which Officers, Post-Masters, Pacquet-Boats, are maintained at his own proper Charge.

And as the Master-piece of all those good regulations, established by the present Post-Master-General, for the better Government of the said Office, he hath annexed and appropriated the Market-Towns of England, so well to their Respective Post-Stages, that there is no considerable Market-Town, but hath an easie and certain Conveyance

for the Letters thereof, to and from the said Grand Office, in the due course of the Males every Post.

Though the Number of Letters Missive in England, were not at all Considerable in our Ancestors days, yet it is now so prodigiously great, (since the meanest People have Generally learned to write) that this Office is Farmed for above 40, rather 50,000l. a Year.

(vi) The Cross Posts.[759]

No. 1 (a).

To the Rt. Honble. Sidney Ld. Godolphin Lord High Trearer of
England.
May it please yr. Lopp.

My Lord Grandville and seaverall Gentlemen of Cornwell having represented to Us that by reason of the Post Road passing along the South Coast of Cornwell seaverel Inland Towns are under great disadvantages in their Correspondence paying two pence pr Letter over & above the Common Postage being serv'd only by a By Post; We did give directions to Our Deputys of Exeter, Plymo, and Lanceston to meet and Consult what Method might be proper to serve those parts more conveniently, and at as Easie an Expence to Her Matie. as might be, and to Report to Us their Opinion of that Matter with an Estimate of the Charge; which they accordingly did, and have proposed a Scheme of that Matter how 'tis to be performed with the Charge of each Stage, which amounts according to their Computation to about £260 pr Ann a Sum more considerable than We at first apprehended; but We doubt the Charge Her Matie. will be put to will Scarce be recompenced by the increase of Letters upon Settling such a Stage, especially when We consider the great Number of Letters for that Country which pass Frank: If Yr Lopp. shall think fitting a Post be Settled for the Midland Towns, as well as for the South Coast, We shall upon yr Directions endeavour to do it with the best Husbandry We can, and as We hope to the Satisfaction of the Country, and shall lay before Yr. Lopp. an Establishmt. to be approved by Yr. Lopp.

We have indeed found by Experience in other Places, That where We have made the Correspondence more Easie and Cheap, the Number of Letters has been thereby much increased; and therefore do believe such a Settlement may be attended with the like effect in those Parts. All which is humbly Submitted to yr. Lopp.

R.C. T.F.
Genl. Post Office,
22d. Novembr. 1703.

No. 1 (b).

After my hearty Comendations, Whereas my very good Lord John Lord Grandville and seaveral Gentlemen of Cornwall have Represented to you, That by reason of the Post Road passing along the South Coast of Cornwall, Seaveral Inland Towns are under great disadvantages in their Correspondence; Whereupon you have proposed to Me the Settlement of a New Post for the Midland Towns, as well as for the South Coast, the better to Serve those parts, the Charge whereof will Amount to Two hundred and Sixty pounds p. Ann I approve of what you have proposed, And do hereby Authorize and Require you to Settle and Establish such a Post accordingly. But you are at twelve months End to Represent to Me or the Lord High Treasurer or Commissrs. of the Treasury then being, how far such a Post doth answer the Expence Her Matie. is at in Settling the Same. And for so doing this shall be yr. Warrant. Whitehall Treary Chambers the 7th December 1703.

Godolphin.
To my very loving Friends
Sr. Robt. Cotton Knt. and
Sr. Thoms. Frankland Bart.
Her Maties. Post-Mr. Genl.

No. 2.

Sr. Robert Cotton Knt. and Sir Thomas Frankland Baronet Her Mties. Post Master Genl. in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and in all Her Maties other Dominions Territorys and Isles thereunto belonging in Europe Affrica and America.

To all People to whom this shall come Greeting know ye, that whereas the County of Lincoln has not hitherto been Served so well with the Correspondence by Letters as other parts of the Nation, several Towns therein not having had the Convenience of a Post at all, and others having been obleig'd to pay an extraordinary Tax above the Common Postage, We have thought it proper to appoint Mr. Richard Bigg of Winslow in the County of Buckingham Gentleman, and Mr. Richard Dixon of Bourn in the County of Lincoln Gentleman (having receiv'd good Testimony of the fidelity and Loyalty of both and each of them to Her Matie. and reposing great trust & confidence in the knowledge Care and Ability of them both) to be our lawfull and Sufficient Deputys with full Power and Authority to Erect Settle and Establish Posts in such Towns of the said County for the Carrying and Conveying the Letters as well those called the London Letters as the By Letters of the said County, as shall be

judged most proper for Her Maties. Service, and the improvemt. of the Correspondence of the said County and to Agree and Contract with such Persons as the said Richard Bigg and Richard Dixon or either of them shall think fitt to Agree and Contract with for performing the Riding part through such Stages as shall be Erected by them or for keeping Letter Offices in any Towns of the said County, And do by these presents Depute Constitute Authorise and Appoint the said Richd. Bigg and Richard Dixon to be our Lawfull and Sufficient Deputys in manner and form aforesaid from the tenth day of August next ensuing the date hereof during such time as We or the Postmaster Genl, for the time being shall think fit under such Conditions payments and Instructions to be faithfully observ'd perform'd and done by the said Richd. Bigg and Richard Dixon their Deputys and Servants as they shall from time to time receive from the Genl. Post Office in London in writing Subscribed by Us our Deputy or Deputys in the Post Office, in Witness whereof We the said Sr. Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Frankland have hereunto sett our hands & Caused the Seal of the said Office in such Cases used to be affixed this fourth day of August 1705.

R.C. T.F.

No. 3.

To ye Rt. Honble ye Lords Comrs. of his Majestys Treary.
May it please your L.sps—

A Proposall having some time since been made to your Lordsps That a Cross Post might be settled between Bristol & Shrewsbury, you were pleased to refer ye same to Us to Consider of it & Report Our opinions thereupon wch Wee did accordingly and acquainted yor Lordsps Wee did hope Wee should find some persons who would at their Owne Cost and Charges undertake to Settle a Cross Post, upon such terms as his Majesty would not be a loser and the people receive the benefit they proposed.

The Establishing such a Cross Roade would undoubtedly be of great Use to Trade & Convenience to ye People and appeares to be very much desired by the several Countrys thro' wch it wou'd pass; but as at present it might become loss to ye Revenue Wee think it Our Duety to lay ye whole state of the Case before Yor Lorsps to receive yor further Directions and have hereunto annexed a scheme both of the Charge & loss that may accrew to the Office thereby.

Wee must observe to yor Lordsps That Londo. (from ye establishing of a post Office) having been esteemed the Center all letters passing thro' one Road to an other thro' Londo. have been constantly taxed with a double post first to Londo. yn to ye places where to they were directed, but the settling of this Cross Post wch will Cause a direct

Intercourse between ye West Bristol & Chester Roades, all lres, passing that way can only be Charged wth a single Post according to ye distance of one place from an other; but yn it ought to be considered on the other hand That the passing thro' Londo. is both tedious and Chargeable, and a more Speedy Conveyance would in all probability produce of an encrease of ye no. of letters besides the bringing such into ye Office as are now Conveyed by Carryers; for where ever there are any Townes wch have Comerce one wth an other so as to occasion a Const. Intercourse by Carryer or Tradesmen Wee do find it a General Practice to Convey at ye same time a Considerable No. of lres as pticularly between Bristol & Worcester & Worcester & Shrewsbury; where there are two persons that make it their business to Colect & disperse letters and make a Considerable advantage by it. That if ye settling this Roade should have yt good effect to suppress all these By Posts (as in all probability it will) notwithstanding at present there will be some Loss the Revenue in time may be Improved by it; and Wee do find that the Cross Road set up 3 yeares & ½ since Between Exon [760] & Bristol doth now produce about 255l. p. annum neat proffit, but in regard this is altogether new Wee can not possibly be so much Masters of it as to know wt. terms to propose to any undertakers that may be equall between the King and them and therefore if yor Lordsps do agree to the Proposal Wee are of opinion it may be most proper to be set up and managed for his Majesty and Carryed on as far as Chester....

(vii) The Early Posts in North America.[761]

No. 1 (a).

To the Right Honble the Lords Comrs. of his Majesty's Treas'y.
Thomas Neale Esqre. humbly sheweth

That their sacred Majesty's by their letters pattents bearing date the 17th day of February 1692 granted to the said Thomas Neale a power of settling Post Offices in North America to be executed by a person to be nominated by the said Thomas Neale and Deputed by the Postmaster Generall of England and thereby directed that accounts shall be kept of the Charge and produce of the said Post Offices, and transmitted to the Right Honble the Lord Treasurer or Lds. Comissioners of the Treasury for the time being.

That in pursuance of this Grant Andrew Hamilton Esqre. was nominated and Deputed to erect Post Offices, who hath at Thomas Neales great Charge settled 'em 700 miles in Length, upon the Continent of America and kept true accounts of the Expences and

proffits thereof, which accts. sworne to by the said Deputy Postmaster before the Governor of New Yorke are now humbly laid before your Lordshipps and an abstract of it for yor. Lordspps. ease.

That the said Deputy Postmaster is come over to give your Lordshipps Information of all matters relating to that subject which your Lordshipps shall think fit to enquire of, and hath proposed the Method contained in the Memoriall annexed as of absolute necessity in his opinion to support the Post, which proves a great service to the Crowne as well as advantage to his Majesty's subjects residing in those Colliny's and Trading thither.

All which is humbly submitted to your
Lordshipps Judgment & direction.
Tho: Neale.

No. 1 (b).

To the Right Honourable the Lords Comrs, of his Majesty's Treasury.

The Memoriall of Andrew Hamilton Esqr. Deputed by the Postmr. Generall of England, to mannage the Post Office in North America, humbly offered.

The Post Office in North America produces these good Effects.

It encreases Trade and Correspondence betwixt the Colonys there.

It affords Merchts. more frequent opertunitys of Corresponding with Europe.

It contributes much towards putting the Kings subjects in security in time of Warr by ye. frequent Conveyance of Intelligence when allarms happen, for want of wch. many familys have been cutt off before the settling of the Post.

And it readily conveys Court Packets from the Colony, where they are delivered to those whither they are addressed without any expence to the Crowne, or said Coliny, besides many other advantages.

But not withstanding these Publick and private benefits arising by it and the unspeakable Loss to those Collonys and England should the Post fall Yet the Undertaker besides a Considerable sume he hath been out of pocket already (above the Produce in carrying it on) must still be in disburse for support of it or must let it fall.

To prevent which it is humbly offered that a postage upon all letters as well those that come from beyond sea to North America as what go's from Colony to Colony may be ascertained by an act of Parliament in England.

That no Masters of ships or sailers bound to America shall receive any letters but at the Post Office to be appointed for that purpose.

That in like manner no Masters of shipps shall receive letters in America that are directed to Europe or from one part of America to another but from the respective Post Offices in the ports where they load or from whence they saile which said Post Offices shall put the letters in a Maile and take a Receipt of the Master that he shall deliver them in to the first Post Office where he shall arive free of charge, for which he shall be allowed in America a penny a letter for his Care excepting such letters as concerne the ship or cargoe which the freightors or owners if they think fit may commit to the care or charge of the Master or friend.

Excepting also such letters of Merchants as may Contain Bulky accounts which no Master is intended to be hindered of carrying as also excepting such letters which the agents or proprietary governments may send to the Respective Governors whose agents they are. It being only hereby intended that the bulke of letters wch hitherto have gone very loosely, to the great Loss of Merchants may for the future be conveyed in Mailes to prevent frauds or inconveniencys which have often hitherto happened.

That the said Master shall under a Penalty be obliged to call at the respective post offices where he shall load for the Maile and if none be ready to be sent that he bring with him a Certificate for his Justification that he called.

The method at present used to get letters transported to America is this—

The Masters bound thither put up bags in Coffee houses wherein the letters are put and for which one penny a letter is usually paid and 2d. if it exceeds a single letter.

This is Lyable to several abuses.

First any one under pretence that he wants to have his letters up again may come to those bags and take out other mens letters and thereby discover the secrets of Merchants and tis in their power intirely to wthdraw them.

2dly. Severall Masters upon their arrivall often keep up letters till they have disposed of their Loading and are ready to saile again, and then Drop them to the great hurt of those that are concerned, which inconveniencys would be prevented if letters were delivered from the Post Offices in Mailes and likewise delivered by them in Mailes into the Post Office where they arrive. Offices may be erected in London and other sea Port Townes in England that Trade with America and so they may be in Ireland and the same penny a letter which is paid into the Coffee houses would support such offices in England and Ireland to receive such letters.

Such offices will be a great convenience to lodge such letters as may concerne his Majestys affairs in America.

If Masters were obliged to receive letters to and from America from the Post Office only, in Mailes and delivered them so at the first post office they arrive at; there would be saved to the King a penny a letter, which now Masters of shipps and passengers Receive, for every American letter they deliver at the respective Offices and whereas now many letters are delivered by Masters and passengers themselves to the persons concerned, all those letters would then be brought into the Post Office to the encrease of that Revenue.

That it be provided that the Post and his horse shall go fferry ffree.

That the rates following may be set upon letters—

To or from Europe or to the West Indies to North America six pence p. single letter 12d. p. double 18d. for a packet if a packet contain nothing but Invoices, accts. Gazetts &ca. to be accounted but as a single letter.

Upon Inland letters as followes—

d.
Where the distance from New Yorke to Boston is within 80 miles the postage6
Where the distance exceeds 80 miles and within 1509
Postage to and from Boston to New Yorke being 300 miles12
To and from Boston to Jersey 370 miles18
To and from Boston to Philadelphia 390 miles20
To and from Boston to Annapolis in Maryland 550 miles36
To and from Boston to James Towne in Virginia 680 miles42
To and from New Yorke to Annapolis 250 miles24
To and from New Yorke to James Towne 380 miles and many broad and dangerous Bays and Rivers to be Ferryed over30

If it be objected yt. there is no reason to grant a postage upon forrensic letters where the Postmaster is at no charge of Conveyance,

It is answered first that it remidies the evills that letters are subject to by the present Method of Conveyance.

2dly. It encreases the Revenue of the Post Office in England.

3dly. That those Colonys having but little Correspondence with an other if the Reale Expence of Conveying letters from Coliny to Colony were charged upon Inland letters it would discourage all Correspondence.

Exa: The Charge of a letter from New Yorke to Boston at present is after ye rate of 12d. a letter and considering the fewness of ym. and the extraordinary charge and trouble of keeping up the Post in time of Wintor taking it one Post with an other a single letter would not be Carryed for 5d.

The Charges of settling a Post throughout Virginia and Maryland

will cost at least 500d. p. ann. & 100 letters in a year will not come from those Collonys to the neighbouring Colonys their Correspondence being chiefly wth. Europe. All which is humbly submitted by

May it please your Lordshipps
Your Lordpps most obedient servant
And: Hamilton.

I humbly beg leave of your Lordspps to add yt. wn. his Majesty shall at any time be inclinable to take this Post Office under his Immediate direction I humbly make a proffer to make a Surrendor of ye. pattent upon payment of 5000d or 1000d. p. ann. for life for the remaining Tearme of ye. Pattent.

Tho: Neale.

A Calculation what Charge will carry ye Post from Newcastle in Pensilvania to James City in Virginia about 400 Miles.

There being a great many broad & dangerous rivers to be Crossed makes it difficult to procure men to Ryde ye Stages and will cost at least to carry ye Post from Newcastle through Maryland to James City in Virginia 300l. P Ann. I Reckon yt in 2 or 3 yeares & may be less this Charge will be defrayed by what may Arise by Postage upon letters. The Post from Newcastle to New England now at last defraying att last its own Charge there will remain only ye Sallery to be allowed to ye Deputy Postmaster Generall which by ye Increase of ye Post will in 2 yeares more in probobility alsoe be defrayed.

As I have laid ye first foundation of ye American Post soe if ye King think fitt to continue me on this trust I will take upon me ye managemt of ye whole from Piscatway 70 Miles eastward of Boston to James City in Virginia wch is 800 & odd miles for 300l. p Annum and will keep exact Accts. of ye produce.

Soe yt 1200l. will in all probability be ye utmost Charge ye King will be att to bring ye American Post to support it Self vizt. 600l. for two yeares Carrying it through Maryland & Virginia and 600l. more for 2 yeares salery to ye Manager or Deputy Postmaster Genll and will thereafter bring in A Revenue All which is most humbly Submitted.

And: Hamilton,
Dept Postmr of North America.
Aprill 26th 99

No. 1 (c).

Cock Pit Treasury Chambers.

The Lds. Comrs. of his Majties Treary are pleased to refer this petition and ye account annexed to Sr. Robt. Cotton Knt. & Sr. Tho. Frankland Barrt. his Majties Postmrs. Generall who are desired to examine ye particulars and report to their Lopps a true state thereof together wth. their opinion what is fit to be done therein.

Wm Lowndes.

The account annex'd to ye petition makes ye charges of Erecting ye post in North America from May 1693 to May 973817611¾
The produce of sd post1456183¼
Mr. Neale out of pocket at May 97236088½
3817611¾
No. 1 (d).

To the right Honble the Lords Comrs. of his Majtys. Treary.

May it please your Lordspps.

In obedience to yor. Ld.spps. Order of Refference upon ye Memoriall of Thomas Neale and Andrew Hamilton Esqrs. Wee have Considered the same and do find that the said A: Hamilton hath Established a regular Post to pass weekly from Boston to New Yorke in New England and from New York to Newcastle in Pensilvania which must undoubtedly be of great benefit and advantage to the People and tend to the encreasing of Trade in those Plantations; Wee have likewise examined the accounts given in by the said Hamilton of the Proffit and charge arising by this Post and do find that the Proffits have every yeare encreased, so as to defray all charges, excepting the sallary paid to the said Andrew Hamilton for his care in managing and settling the Posts in North America and it may be hoped that upon the severall Governors giving all reasonable encouragement to this usefull undertaking, and a due care in the management thereof, It may in some years bring in a Considerable proffit.

Wee have Consulted his Majestys Attorney and Solliciter Generall whether his Majesty can settle the rates and Postage between England and any of the Ports in America, and for the port of letters to and from New Yorke to or from any part of the said plantations; and they are of opinion his Majesty May settle such rates in both respects as shall be thought reasonable (regard being had to the proportions and rates settled by the Act), for letters carried beyond

sea, so yt it doth not seeme necessary there should be any additionall Act of Parliamt. for the settling of rates upon all such letters.

To prevent any Collections of letters that may be made by any Masters of Ships or Seamen Wee are humbly of opinion it may be proper to appoint an Officer here whose business it should be to take Care of all letters directed to any of his Majestys Plantations, and upon going off of ships to those parts to put them up in severall and distinct bags, sealed with the Seale of the Office and sent to ye Mar. of such Vessell who shall deliver ym. to ye Deputy Postmr. in the first Port where he shall arrive such Deputy paying him one penny for each letter Contained in ye said bag as a recompence for his Care: and ye same method may likewise be observed in England for all such letters as shall come from America: and upon such Officers being Established it may be fit to give Publick Notice that no other person presume to make Collection of letters for those parts.

Wee have Considered of the severall rates mentioned in Mr. Hamiltons Memoriall for the Inland Post of letters between one place & an other in America and are humbly of opinion some of them are too high. It having been found by Experience in this Office That ye easy and cheap Corresponding doth encourage people to write letters and that this Revenue was but little in proportion to what it now is till the postage was reduced from sixpence to 3d.

Wee have advised with Mr. Hamilton who hath settled and managed this Post under Mr. Neale and is recomended to Us by the Governor of Virginia to be well acquainted with that Country about enlarging the Post through Virginia & Maryland and by his Competation hereunto annexed do find that it will require 1200d. further Charge than wt has already been expended to Establish and bring the whole to perfection there.

Upon the whole it appears to Us that as the Establishing this American Post whereby the several Colonys have a regular way of Corresponding with each other is of great advantage to the Trade of his Majtys. Subjects in those parts so it may in few years bring in a cleare proffit over and above what may be required to defray ye necessary Charges but it is to be apprehended that considering the same is in the hands of a private person the severall Governors will not give that encouragemt. to it they would do if the profit and advantage arrising thereby were to accrew to his Majty. All which is humbly submitted to your Lordsps. Consideration. Genl. Post Office 27th April 1699.

R: Cotton Tho: Frankland.

No. 1 (e).

To the Right Honble &ca.
The humble Memoriall of Tho: Neale Esqr.
May it please your Lordsps.

Though after Strugling with many difficultys in the first settling the American Post I have now at last at a great Charge made it a regular Post and brought it to such a pass that where settled it supports it self and will in a very few yeares bring in a fair Revenue, Yet since the Postmr. Genl. in their Report to your Lordsps Conserning ye Post have declared their opinion that it will not receive so due encouragement nor so soon attain to perfection in the hands of a private person for the good of the publick, as it would, were it in the hands of the King; I humbly offer to lay my Pattent of that Post office at his Majestys feet rather then an undertaking so usefull & beneficiall to his Majestys subjects in America and to those that trade thither should want the least advantage for its support and to leave my selfe to his Majtys Justice and goodness for a Recompence of my risque and disbursments by a yearly Pention or otherwise.

And Whereas in ye Memoriall annexed to the Report, the abuses hitherto practiced in Conveying letters to America and the method for preventing them for the future are set forth I humbly beseech yor Lordsps. yt the said Method if approved of by your Lordps. or such other as your Lordsps. shall think more proper may be put in Execusion for the benefit of the Publick and mine till his Majty. shall declare his pleasure conserning the surrender of my Patent.

All which is most humbly submitted to yor. Lordsps.
Great Wisdom &ca. by
My Lords
Your ever obedient
Tho: Neale.

April 28, 1699.

No. 1 (f).

To the Kings most Excellent Maty.
The humble Petition of Andrew Hamilton, and Robert West.

Sheweth

That your Majtie. and the late Queen of Blessed Memory in the fourth Year of your Raigne, by Letters Patent granted to Thomas Neale Esqr. full power and Authority to Erect a Post, and Post office in North America, To hold for one and Twenty yeares without any Account, And by the same Letters Patent directed the Post Master

Generall of England to Issue Deputations from time to time to such Persons as Mr. Neale or his Assignes should Nominate, to Execute the same power.

In pursuance of which Grant, the Post Master Generall at Mr. Neales nomination, Deputed Your Peticoner Hamilton, who hath Setled a Post from New Yorke Southward as far as Virginia, and Eastward Seventy Miles beyond Boston in New England, which proves of great Advantage to the Trade of those Coloneys, and of no lesse Service to your Majtys. Governmt. there.

In the Setling and Supporting wch Post, your Petr. West, above seven yeares agoe upon the request and Credit of Mr. Neale, advanced Two hundred pounds, and your Petitioner Hamilton hath since disbursed Eleven Hundred Pounds more, and brought it to such Perfection, that it allready defrays Its own Charge, and will in time be a Considerable Revenue.

That Mr. Neale being unable to pay your Petrs. or to give them other Satisfaction, in August 1699 Assigned all his Interest in the said Post to your Petitioner West for secureing all the Monys due to both your Petitioners and all such other sumes as your Petr. Hamilton should expend in further enlarging the said Post, with Common Interest for the whole Moneys.

That Mr. Neale Dying before payment of any part of the said Debts, and all persons declining to Act either as his Executor, or Administrator, Your Petrs. will be necessitated to dispose of the said Post for Satisfaction of their Debts, but being Sensible It is more for your Majties. Interest and Service, to have such Post Under the management and Controll of some Officer to be appointed by your Matys. than of any Private Person.

Your Petitioners humbly tender the same to your Majtie. and if your Majtie. shall not thinke fit to Accept It, They humbly pray that your Majtie. will Gratiously encourage the Continuance and Enlargement of the said Post, by granting them a further terme of years therein, and such additional Priviledges as are necessary for the Improvement of it.

And your Petitioners shall ever pray &ca.

At the Court.

No. 2.

London Febry. 8th 1779.

Sir,

My present disagreable Situation as an Officer under the Crown without Employment, and without a Salary, occasioned by the Rebellion in America, induces me to give you the Trouble of

this Adress, and to request your advice and Assistance in procuring that Relief which my present Circumstances require.

You are not a Stranger to my Appointment to the Office of Deputy Postmaster of Philadelphia in the year 1776 by the Deputy postmasters General of North America, and that I continued to act in that Office, and as I trust to the entire Satisfaction of all concerned, until the Confusion and Sedition in that Country rendered it impossible for me to be of any kind of service.

In the Spring 1775 having good Reason to believe from a variety of Information that there was a Danger of breaking up the Post Office at Philadelphia under the Crown, and seizing upon all the Monies in my Custody, I immediately made up my Accounts, and remitted the Balance in my Hands to the Comptroller in New York up to the 5th April of the same year.

About this time the disaffected Merchants in Philadelphia set up by Subscription a post Office in opposition to Government, appointed William Bradford Postmaster and compelled many of the well effected Merchants and others to send their Letters to it for Conveyance; and in May following the Mail was seized in New England under a public Avowel of the Rebels.

Under these Circumstances finding not only my person was in danger, but that I could be of no further service to the Crown by my continuing in Philadelphia, I left it and came into New York where my Conduct being approved, I procured leave of Absence, and returned to London in order to represent the true State of the Offices in America, which on my arrival I did. You will also recollect that as soon as possible after hearing that the City of Philadelphia was in possession of the Kings Troops I again embarked under an Expectation that the War would be settled by the Commissioners, and to take care of the post Office Affairs in that City. But on my arrival finding that All Letters by the packets &ca. were taken up by the Commander in Chief, and delivered not only to the Army and Navy but even to the Merchants, the City being evacuated soon after, I was obliged to return again to this place for safety. When in the Execution of my Office my Salary amounted to Two Hundred and Twenty five pounds Sterlg. p. Ann. out of which I paid Clerks Wages and Office Rent. This I received up to the 5 of April 1775. Since that time I have subsisted on my own means (except Two Hundred pounds at the Post Office by Warrant from the Treasury) without receiving any other part of my Salary from Government.

In these Circumstances it is with reluctance I find myself under the necessity of applying for the same Allowance from the Crown,

which has been made to other persons in Office under it, in the like Situation.

I am Sir &ca.
Thos. Foxcroft.

Anth. Todd, Esqr.

Treasury authorized £100 a year from 5th April, 1775, "until he may be reinstated in the office or otherwise provided for."

No. 3.

General Post Office,
February 15th, 1793.
Sir,

In your letter dated the 1st instant which we did not receive till the 8th, We have the honor to inform you that after much difficulty We have but lately obtained Mr. Finlay's accounts as Deputy Post Master General in America the first Statement of which was for the period between the 5th of April 1786 and the 10th of October 1790 and exhibited a balance due to the Office up to that date of £1809.19.4 Sterling but the Account was inadmissible in point of form for reasons hereafter mentioned.

We are satisfied Sir that you will form no Opinion without having read the full state of the question on both sides and the proofs and documents by which Our Conduct towards Mr. Finlay may be judged and that you will form no hasty conclusion from his statement of his own case, which you will find to be greatly misrepresented.

In support of this assertion We have ordered Copies of the letters that We have lately written to Mr. Finlay upon the Subject of his Debt to be laid before you, And We shall if you will permit us Order our Deputy Accountant General and desire Mr. Callender to wait upon you and to explain the particulars of all that have passed.

Mr. Callender is Mr. Finlay's Agent without whose knowledge and concurrence, We have taken no one step of late in this business, nor sent out any dispatch to Mr. Finlay that Mr. Callender has not previously seen and approved.

He will be able to satisfy you Sir, whether our conduct towards Mr. Finlay has been grounded upon severity or upon forbearance, more than perhaps our duty strictly speaking, would justify.

In the mean time that we may do away any erroneous impression, which Mr. Finlay's letters may have made upon your mind, as well as upon Govr: Clarke's, We shall shortly put together the points which Our correspondence will prove, and We shall rely upon your justice to transmit copy of that correspondence to Govr: Clarke, that He may have full and correct information upon the subject.

There is and has long been a considerable balance due from Mr. Finlay, to this Revenue, for the payment of which he has given no security, which balance We have repeatedly but in Vain called upon him to pay.

He is in possession from us not as He tells Governor Clarke, of a Salary of £300 per Annum, but of a Pension of £150 p. Annum, a Salary of £150 more, and a Commission of £20 per Cent on the net produce of letters within the province of Canada, which he assured us in May 1789 produced to Him a nett receipt of £130 p. Annum, but previous to his receiving any net produce, all charges, dead letters, under Deputies Salaries, and other allowances are by the Words of his Commission, to be first deducted.

Instead of this he has charged the Office £20 per Cent upon the Gross, the dead letters only deducted, and not upon the net produce and claimed to be allowed for sundry of those Articles of Management, which by His Commission on the Articles which are to be deducted before the Net Produce is paid to him.

He also charges his Pension for several quarters, which he must know, was paid to his Agent in this Country during a part of the time he claims it in Canada.

In an account amounting to several Thousand Pounds and for several Years, He has sent us home the particulars of no one Article of expenditure whatever, & one Voucher only which is but for £27.

His accounts from the length of time and the manner in which they have at different periods been stated, are in a confused and contradictory state, and radically wrong, from his having taken considerable credit for Money received by his Agent here on Account of his Pension, and the whole of the Articles of his disbursements being destitute of Vouchers, up to the Period of the 10th of October 1792, without which they cannot pass this, or the Auditors' Office, together with his having taken a Credit for his £20 p. Cent on false principles, and contrary to the words of His Commission, which says it shall be on the Net and not on the Gross Produce. The Accountant General therefore thought it more adviseable, and Mr. Finlay's own Agent strongly recommended the measure, of Mr. Finlay's coming to England to adjust in person, the whole, and render an Account capable of being incorporated in the Annual Accounts of this Office, for the Auditors in which the true balance must be ascertained.

As far as depends upon us We have given him the option to come or not, just as He pleases, provided We have an intelligible Account and his Balance paid.

His letter to Governor Clarke of 28th October contains one misrepresentation which is too strong not to be observed upon; For He

says We are about to reduce his Income from £500 a year to £200, though We have often told him that We would allow him, and our proposal for doing so is now before the Privy Council, an income of £400 p. Annum net, besides £50 per Annum for his Clerk. He will also receive £100 p. Year from the Province as Maître des Postes, but which in fact is paid ultimately by this Country, being allowed in the Governor General's Accounts: however independent of that £100 p. Annum, he will then be in the receipt of £400 p. Annum from us net Money, free of all deductions for managing an Internal Revenue in America which will not produce to this Country at the end of the Year a single shilling after paying the expence of the Post between Halifax, through the King's Colonies, and Quebec, besides which this Office pays the expence of four Packet boats which cost upon the present Peace Establishment about £8000 p. Annum, though the correspondence between Great Britain and America does not yield above £3000 per Annum.

The Commissioners of Enquiry recommend that Mr. Finlay's pension of £150 a Year should cease, which however We have continued to Him, And that his Salary only of £150 p. Annum should remain and they do not appear to have known that exclusive of this Pension and Salary he enjoyed a former Commission from the Year 1774 of £20 per Cent upon the net postage of all Money received in Canada, for which however in our calculation We had allowed Him £150 per Annum though He in his own dispatches assured us it produced him only £130 per Annum.

We have shewn this letter to Mr. Church and Mr. Callender before it was copied out fair, they have altered and approved of it, So that We are now Sir communicating to you, not only our own sentiments, but those of the deputy Accountant General and Mr. Finlay's own Agent.

We are, Sir,
Walsingham,
Chesterfield.

The Right Honle. Henry Dundass.

(viii) The Clerks of the Road and the Transmission of Newspapers.[762]

No. 1.

To the Rt. Honoble. the Lord Comrs. of his Majtie. Treasury.

May it please your Lordshipps

The Postmaster Generall Representation for Increasing the Clarks Salaries.

Wee humbly lay before your Lorpps that upon some Information given the last summer to the then Lords Justices as if his Majesties Revenue of the Post office was lessened by a practice which had been long used of the Clarks of the Roads sending great quantitys of Gazetts and other Prints free of postage. Their Exellancyes thought fitt to lay the same before his Majtie. who was thereupon pleased to signifie his pleasure to us by the Lord Keeper (now Lord Chancellor) in a Comittee of Councell that his Majestie. did not think it reasonable that Practice should for the future be continued but we acquainting their Lordshipps that this having been a perquisite constantly allowed to the six Clarks of the Roades on consideration of the smalness of their Sallarys it would be reasonable upon the taking of it away to allow them a compensation for the same whereupon they told us wee should lay that matter before your Lordshipps of the Treasury as wee now doe and upon the strictest enquiry wee can make the Case appears to be as followes.

Upon the first Establishing of the Post office England was divided into six Roades and a Clark appointed to each Road and their Sallaryes being but small they were constantly allowed even by the farmers themselves the privilidge of sending Gazetts and some other prints free, as the business and Revenue of the office increased by petting up new posts soe likewise did their perquisites In soe much that complaint was made thereof to the late King James when Duke of York who upon a full examination into the matter thought it more adviseable to continue it as an Incouragement to them than to compensate them by an addition of Sallary and besides that the office hath considerably increased since wee came into it the present Juncture of affairs by the frequent and long sessions of Parliament and the War wherein the greatest part of this side of the world is engaged hath occationed peoples being more desirous of News then formerly soe as wee believe the postage of prints sent by the six Clarkes may now amount to about ... tho att the same time the Clarkes does not receive soe great an advantage by them they paying the first cost for them and susteyne frequent losses by their Customers failing in their paymt. Now upon the takeing this perquisite from them wee are humbly of opinion it will be reasonable to give them such an equivolent as is conteyned in the skeme hereonto annexed for wee must observe to your Lordshipps that not only the improvement of the Revenue but all the letters being duely accounted for doth in a great measure depend upon those officers they being the persons who make the charges upon all the Postmasters of England and the very nature of the office requires such despatch that its scarce possible to contrive such Cheque but yt these officers being in combination with the Postmasters may defraud his

Majestie and therefore it does not seem adviseable that men should be under such a temtation for want of a due Incouragement.

The attendance is alsoe soe great and at those unseasonable times and houres as renders them uncapable of applyeing themselves to any other business whereby to helpe to support themselves and familys though the Addition of Sallary which we have proposed doth not amount to halfe so much as the Postage of Prints now sent by the severall Clarkes yet we cannot say his Majesty will be a gainer thereby for it must be considered yt many persons who are now furnished with them from the Clarkes for Two pence a peice will scarce have them if they must pay a groat or six pence a peice beside the troubling some friend in Towne to send them and whether they may not find out some otherways of being furnished with them then by the Post as by Flyeing Coaches &ct. or whether those officers or persons who have the privelidge of franking their letters may not hereafter supply those with such Prints as they are now furnished with from this office.

Whereas the business of the office is soe much increased that for the regular and due dispatch of the letters wee have been forced to appoint a Sortor to each Clarke of the Road for an assistant whereby their trouble and attendance is very much greater then it was and being taken from sorting the burden and trouble of the rest is proportianably increased as there are fuer hands to perform it nether they or the assistant having any other advantage or perquisites besides theire bare sallary of forty pounds a yeare which is soe poor a subsistance that such as have dyed since wee came into the office have scarce left enough to bury them wee are humbly of opinion this may deserve your Lordshipps Consideration and soe upon the whole matter though we must acknowledge it an unseasonable time to propose an increase of Sallaryes which has made us defer it thus long we could not omit this oppertunity of doeing it and humbly hope if your Lordshipps shall think fitt to give these poor men the Incouragement proposed it will tend very much to his Majesty Service in this office.

No. 2.

The Right Honorable Lord Walsingham, and the Earl of Chesterfield, His Majesty's Post Master General.

The undersigned the Clerks of the Roads gratefully considering the Report made by your Lordships to Government which recommends for them a Salary of Three Hundred Pounds p. Annum with their present privilege of franking Newspapers unimpaired ask permission to submit to your Lordships Notice the following

plan for increasing the circulation of Newspapers and in consequence the Revenue arising from the Stamp duty probably to the Amount of Eight thousand pounds p. Annum though attended by no additional expence to Government but entirely at their own risque and which they have determined immediately to execute should your Lordships arrangement take place.

They would first premise that when they were relieved by your Lordships from the payment they formerly made to the officers in this Department and from the Office which was filled by Mr. Tamineau, they reduced their charge from forty Pounds per Centum to Twenty & Twenty five Pounds per Centum on the prime cost of the papers which latter sum is the additional charge now made on the prime cost by all the Stationers Printers & Dealers who serve the Country with papers, and if in some cases it be less, it is on account of payment being made in advance.

They now propose upon the Establishment of your Lordships Arrangement to reduce the general charge on the prime cost from twenty and twenty five per Centum to ten and fifteen pounds per Centum, and as all the circulators of Newspapers will now regulate their charge for Newspapers sold in the Country by that of the Clerks of the Roads, the charge fixed by the Clerks will be the general one in the course of Six Months from its commencement.

This reduction will cause a greater demand for Newspapers in the Country many who now take a Weekly paper will then take a three day paper & many who now take a three day paper will then take a six day paper and two Persons who now join the expence of a Weekly or a three day paper may be induced by the reasonable charge to take each a paper or increase the number as above, and as the reduction becomes generally known which by the means of their Agents the Post Masters and other correspondents throughout Great Britain & Ireland it can be in fourteen days, the Stationers Printers and Dealers must likewise lessen their charge or risk the loss of their Customers.

By abolishing the monopoly once enjoyed by the Clerks in the Offices of the Secretaries of State, and the Clerks of the Roads in this Office, permitting the Public to send and receive Newspapers free, the number increased as this circumstance became known from—20,967 to 78,217 weekly and it is by confirming this liberty to the Public and by a reduction in the charge that the circulation of Newspapers and consequently the increase of Revenue is intended to be promoted. The probable increase in the number of Newspapers circulated in the Country through the above reduced price may be stated at the lowest computation at one half penny each upon one hundred Newspapers each Clerk of the Road, one hundred

each of the twenty principal Stationers & Dealers and for the more inconsiderable Dealers which are very numerous fifty of whom are known Four hundred papers by every poste, which together will make the additional number circulated every Post three thousand.

By preserving the privelege of franking to the Clerks of the Roads a competition will be occasioned between them & the other Dealers, the Public will be supplied on more moderate terms, and an increase of consumption will be promoted but should this competition be destroyed by the abolition of the privelege of the Clerks of the Roads, the principal Dealers purchasing the business carried on by less extensive circulation might thereby occasion a monopoly and then fix the price as it might suit their private interest and diminish the number of Newspapers circulated thereby greatly injuring the Revenue as formerly by the monopoly of the Clerks of the Secretaries of State and the Clerks of the Roads for it would be the interest of the Stationers and other Dealers as it was that of the Clerks under Government to sell a less number at an advanced price, the Capital employed would not be so large nor the trouble nor the risk so great.

The Clerks of the Roads here beg your Lordships attention to a proposal which there is no doubt will occasion a yet further increase of circulation of Newspapers, it has been before stated to your Lordships in the Report upon the Plan proposed by the Commissioners relative to a Tax on Newspapers that before the duty of one penny postage was laid on all Newspapers sent by Post to Ireland, the Weekly number remitted to that Kingdom was upon an Average 8,000, and that the Weekly number now sent upon an average is only 1,380, should Government consent to repeal this duty it is evident from the above statement that they would gain a considerable Sum the Clerks of the Roads will with pleasure make a considerable reduction in their charge to Ireland, as in the case of home consumption which will be a means of still further extending of circulation.

1764 and 1790 compared.{Number of Newspapers which passed through the General PostOffice London between the 5th April 1764, and the 5th of April1765, with the amount at two pence each Stamp duty,
  London Newspapers1,090,289£9,085.14.10
Number of Newspapers which passed through the General PostOffice London between the 5th of January 1790 and the 5th ofJanuary 1791, with the amount at two pence each Stamp duty,
  London Newspapers3,944,093
  Country Newspapers123,200
Total No.4,067,293£33,894.2.2
Probable gain by this plan.{Six Clerks of the Roads at 100 each night600
Twenty Principal dealers at 100 do.2,000
Fifty less Dealers at 8 each night400
No. 3,000
3,000 each night at two pence each Stamp duty£7,800 p. ann.
1780 and 1790 to Ireland compared.{To Ireland before the Tax.
Number of Newspapers which passed through the General PostOffice to Ireland between the 5th January 1780 and the 5thJanuary 1781 at two pence each Stamp duty,
416,000£3,466.13.4
To Ireland since the Tax.
Number of Newspapers which passed through the General PostOffice to Ireland between the 5th January 1790 and the 5th ofJanuary 1791 at two pence each Stamp duty and one penny eachPostage,
71,766£897.1.6

Edmund Barnes
Isaac Henry Cabanes
William Ogilvy
Charles Coltson
Saml Ardron
Charles Evans.

No. 3.

To The Right Honorable Lord Walsingham and The Earl of Chesterfield, His Majesty's Post Master General.

The paper from the Post Master General relative to the Tax proposed by the Commissioners having been communicated to the Clerks of the Roads and the Inspector of Franks they beg permission to offer the subsequent observations.

That the proposal by the Commissioners for Government to receive a Tax of a penny for the postage of each Newspaper passing through the Post Office, however eligible it might appear at the time it was first proposed, will not they believe at this period, be productive of that expected advantage to the public the encrease of Revenue, as the reasons annexed among others may probably prove.

Because since the proposal was made to the Commissioners, and they made their Report an additional Stamp has been imposed of one halfpenny a paper, and another halfpenny on each has been added by the Printers, so that the Public now pay one penny more than they did at that time.

Because the proposed Tax would be a means of compelling the Stationers, Printers and Dealers to send their papers by Coach the same day at the customary charge of one farthing each paper

instead of sending them by post on Government Account at a penny the second day. And it cannot be supposed that a number of persons many of them of considerable property would quietly submit to have the circulation of their papers confined to post conveyance at one penny each paper, without those serious efforts to oppose and prevent it which the prospect of certain and total ruin to their business and consequently to their Families must excite.

But allowing it were possible to confine the whole of the papers sold in the Country to post conveyance and a recompence made to those Stationers and Printers employed in the distribution at present would not the encreased price occasioned by this Tax very much diminish the Number of Newspapers now printed to the great injury of the Stamp duty? probably to a greater Amount than would be gained by the plan proposed. For were the Stage Coaches prohibited conveying Newspapers all the Morning Papers now conveyed by them to many parts of the Kingdom would be lost to the Stamp Revenue, and all the Morning Papers read at the Coffee Houses and other public Houses, would be collected by the Newsmen at a small sum each paper in the Afternoon and sent into the Country by the post in the Evening without the least trouble to themselves, it being their daily business to go round their London district, early in the Morning, and in the Afternoon before the dispatch of the Papers by the post.

Before the Penny postage was laid on all papers sent by post to Ireland the Weekly number remitted to that Kingdom was upon an Average 8,000: the Number now sent upon an Average is only 1,380 Weekly.

Because when the Tax was recommended by the Commissioners the first cost of a London Newspaper was threepence only, the first cost is now fourpence, to which add the Tax for postage it will be fivepence to any Post Town in England, which is one halfpenny more than the highest charge now made by any Dealer in the Country for a London Newspaper. But should this Tax take place the people who live at a distance from any Post Town must pay an additional halfpenny a Paper and some twopence on the receipt of each Paper which will bring the cost to fivepence halfpenny, some sixpence, and some as high as sevenpence each London Newspaper. This high price the Clerks of the Roads well know by experience would induce many people to take only a three day paper who now take a Six day paper and many who now take a three day paper only a weekly paper, and as the Salaries of the Clerks of the Roads employed in the business would be certain and no way answerable for any loss on the papers would there not be a great many people Customers no

way able to pay for their Newspapers many of whom this mode of business would certainly introduce? consequently Government would be subject to several deficiencies in payment for Newspapers sent into the Country whether paid for half yearly, yearly, or each paper on delivery, the Receiver in the latter case would not feel himself obliged to give notice for his paper to be discontinued but would refuse it when offered, the cost of the paper would then be lost to Government. This latter mode of payment would give an opportunity to the Deputy Post Masters or their Clerks to Order more papers than actually required which after being read would be returned with the Quarterly Dead Letters to be allowed as refused or gone away.

Because the proposed Tax would cause a decided preference of Country Newspapers to those of London encrease the sale of the former and diminish that of the latter for as very few of the Country Newspapers pass through the Post Office, the Country Printers would be enabled to undersell the London Printers a penny a paper. The usual method with a Country Printer is immediately upon the arrival of his London paper to print his own with the London News and disperse them to Runners from ten to fifteen miles around the Town he resides in; these Runners not only disperse a considerable quantity of Newspapers but carry also letters which must materially injure the Revenue.

Because notwithstanding the Revenue to be raised by this Tax is very uncertain the conduct and management of it will be attended with much expence taken out of the hands of those deeply interested in its success the greater Burden will fall upon the Deputy Post Masters in the Country; the Country Newspapers when they arrive cannot be dispersed without a direction being numerous, the Deputies will no doubt expect an increase of Salary adequate to the business imposed on them; this it is conceived will bring a fresh expence upon Government. In most large Towns two additional Assistants to the Post Master will be necessary one at £30 and the other at £20 per Annum, it will also materially delay (in most of the Post Towns) the delivery of the letters by the time it will necessarily take in selecting folding and directing the Papers; allowing the same time to a Post Master and his Assistants as it takes herewith the same number of hands to dispatch them in the Post Office, the delay in many large Towns will be from one to two hours.

The Clerks of the Roads not having received any recompence whatever for the losses sustained by the Act of 1764 which abolished their then privelege of franking letters and gave to the Public liberty to send and receive Newspapers etc. free by a

permit from Peers and Members of Parliament to the great diminution of their Sale of Papers; and by the further extension of this liberty to the Public to send and receive them free under the Sanction of a Peer or Member's name without the usual permit; and by the Separation of the Irish from the English Office, would certainly consider themselves intitled by Justice to a sufficient recompence for their Lives were the privelege now remaining to them taken away.

The rest of the Officers in the Inland department who have always been told to look up to a Clerkship of the Road as a reward for their long Services would also consider themselves entitled to larger salaries were the privelege of Franking Newspapers by the Six Clerks of the Roads further restricted or abolished.

Number of News Papers which passed through the General Post Office London between the 5th January 1790 and the 5th January 1791 with the amount at one penny each—

London Newspapers3,944,093£16,433.14.5.
Country Newspapers123,200£513.6.8.
4,067,293£16,947.1.1.

Edmund Barnes
Isaac Henry Cabanes
William Ogilvy
Charles Coltson
Saml Ardron
Charles Evans.

APPENDIX C
LIST OF AUTHORITIES

UNITED KINGDOM

Allen, Ralph. A Narrative of Mr. Allen's Transactions with the Government for the Better Management of the Bye, Way, and Cross Road Posts. 1761 (pub. London, 1897. Vide infra, Ogilvie, A. M. J.).

Andrews, Alexander. The History of British Journalism. London, 1859.

Baines, F. E. Forty Years at the Post Office. London, 1895.

Beadon, R. J. Uniform Imperial Postage. London, 1891.

Bennett, Edward. The Post Office and its Story. London, 1912.

Bowie, A. G. The Romance of the British Post Office. London, 1897.

Bruce, Sir Robert, C.B. Postal Organisation, with special reference to the London Postal Service. London, 1912.

Cole, Sir Henry. Fifty Years of Public Work. London, 1884.

Collet, C. D. History of the Taxes on Knowledge. London, 1899.

Corrie, John M. The Dumfries Post Office, 1642-1910. Dumfries, 1912.

D'Avenant, William. Discourses on the Publick Revenues and on the Trade of England. London, 1698.

De-Laune, Tho. The Present State of London. London, 1681.

Harris, Stanley. Old Coaching Days. London, 1882.

Heaton, J. Henniker. Postal and Telegraphic Communications of the Empire. London, 1888.

Postal Reform. London, 1890.

Hemmeon, J. C., Ph.D. The History of the British Post Office. Harvard Economic Studies, vol. vii. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1912.

Hendy, J. G. The History of the Early Postmarks of the British Isles. London, 1905.

Hill, Frederick. An Autobiography of Fifty Years in Times of Reform. London, 1893.

Hill, John. A Penny Post: or a Vindication of the Liberty and Birthright of every Englishman in Carrying Merchants and other Men's Letters, against any restraint of Farmers of such Employments. London, 1659.

Hill, Pearson. The Origin of Postage Stamps. London, 1890.

Hill, Sir Rowland. Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability. London, 1837.

On the Collection of Postage by Means of Stamps. London, 1839.

The State and Prospects of Penny Postage. London, 1844.

Results of Postal Reform. London, 1864.

Life of Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B., etc., and History of Penny Postage, by Sir Rowland Hill and his Nephew, George Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. 2 vols. London, 1880.

Horne, L. T. Postal Communications of the Empire. British Empire Series, vol. v. London, 1902.

Hunt, F. Knight. The Fourth Estate: Contributions towards a History of Newspapers and of the Liberty of the Press. London, 1850.

Hurcomb, C. W. The Posts under the Tudors. The Antiquary, 1914.

Hyde, J. W. The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance. London, 1889.

The Early History of the Post in Grant and Farm. London, 1894.

Joyce, Herbert, C.B. The History of the Post Office from its Establishment down to 1836. London, 1893.

Lang, T. B. Historical Summary of the Post Office in Scotland. Edinburgh, 1856.

Lewins, W. Her Majesty's Mails. London, 1864.

Macpherson, David. Annals of Commerce. London, 1805.

Murch, Jerom. Ralph Allen, John Palmer, and the English Post Office. London, 1880.

Norway, A. H. The Post Office Packet Service. London, 1895.

Ogilvie, A. M. J. Ralph Allen's Bye, Way, and Cross Road Posts. London, 1897.

Article on the "Post Office" in Dictionary of Political Economy. London, 1908.

Peach, R. E. M. The Life and Times of Ralph Allen. London, 1895.

Raikes, H. St. J. Life and Letters of H. C. Raikes. London, 1898.

Smyth, Eleanor C. Sir Rowland Hill: The Story of a Great Reform. London, 1907.

Stephen, Leslie. Life of Henry Fawcett. London, 1885.

Stow, John. A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster. London, 1720.

Swift, H. G. A History of Postal Agitation. London, 1900.

Symon, J. D. The Press and its Story. London, 1914.

Tegg, William, F.R.H.S. Posts and Telegraphs. Past and Present. London, 1878.

Tombs, R. C. The King's Post. Bristol, 1905.

The Bristol Royal Mail. Bristol (undated).

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. The Story of the King's Highway. London, 1913.

Williams, J. B. A History of English Journalism. London, 1908.

Wilson, John. History of the Birmingham Post Office. Birmingham Weekly Mercury, October, 1899.

The Practical Method of the Penny Post. London, 1681.

The Administration of the Post Office from the Introduction of

Mr. Rowland Hill's Plan of Penny Postage up to the Present Time. London, 1844.

The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago. London, 1890.

Celebration of the Jubilee of Uniform Inland Penny Postage. London, 1891.

Records of the Life of S. A. Blackwood. London, 1896.

Periodicals.

Notes and Queries, 1st series, vol. iii; 10th series, No. 141.

Quarterly Review, 1839.

Edinburgh Review, 1840.

Chambers's Journal, vol. vii.

The Postmen's Gazette. London.

The Postal Clerks' Herald. Wolverhampton.

The Telegraph Chronicle. London.

The Postal and Telegraph Record. Manchester.

Telephone Journal. London.

St. Martin's-le-Grand Magazine. London.

Parliamentary and Official Papers.

Tenth Report of the Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament to inquire into the Fees, Gratuities, Perquisites, and Emoluments, which are or have been lately received in the several Public Offices therein mentioned. 1788.

Report of the Committee on Mr. Palmer's Agreement. 1797.

Twentieth and Twenty-first Reports of the Commissioners of

Inquiry into the Collection and Management of the Revenue arising in Ireland and Great Britain. 1830.

The Ten Reports of the Commissioners for Inquiry into the Mode of Conducting the Business of the Post Office Department. 1834-38.

The Three Reports from the Select Committee on Postage. 1838. Report from Committee on the Conveyance of Mails by Railway. 1838.

Report from Select Committee on Postage. 1843.

Report from Secret Committee of House of Commons on the Post Office. 1844.

Report from Secret Committee of House of Lords on the Post Office. 1844.

Report from the Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps. 18th July, 1851.

Report of the Select Committee on Contract Packets, 1853.

Report of the Royal Commission on Railways, 7th May, 1867.

Report from Select Committee on Railway Amalgamations, etc. 1873.

Report of the Select Committee on Estimates of the Revenue Departments. 1888.

Post Office Wages. Report of Tweedmouth Committee, 1896.

Post Office Wages. Report of Bradford Committee, 1904.

Report of Select Committee on Post Office Servants (Hobhouse Committee), 1907.

The Post Office: An Historical Summary. London, 1911.

Report of Select Committee on Post Office Servants (Holt Committee), 1914.

Statement showing the Proposed Increases in Postal, Telegraph, and Telephone Charges, 1915 (Cd. 8,067).

First Report of the Committee on Retrenchment in the Public Expenditure, 1915 (Cd. 8,068).

Reports of the Postmaster-General on the Post Office. Annually (from 1854-5).

Official Records of the British Post Office.

Cobbett, William. The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Years to 1803.

Scobell, Henry. A Collection of Acts and Ordinances. London, 1658.

Calendars of State Papers.

Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.—Reports.

Hansard's Parliamentary Debates.

CANADA

Report of the Special Committee of the House of Assembly on the Post Office Department of the Province of Lower Canada. February 11, 1832.

Lower Canada. Report of the Special Committee of the House of Assembly on the Present Condition of the Post Office Department. March 8, 1836.

Report of the Special Committee of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada on the Bill intitled "An Act to establish a Post Office in this Province, etc." March 15, 1836.

Report of a Select Committee of the Legislative Council of the Province of Upper Canada upon the Post Office. February 17, 1837.

Report on Affairs in British North America, by the Earl of Durham. 1840.

Report of the Commissioners appointed to Inquire into the Affairs of the Post Office in British North America. December 31, 1841.

Report of a Committee of the Executive Council of Canada on the Post Office. June 10, 1848.

Correspondence on the Subject of the Establishment of a General Post Office System in the British Provinces of North America. Montreal, February 27, 1849. (Appendix B.B.B., 8th volume of Journals of the Legislative Assembly of Canada.)

Report of the Railway Service Commissioners. Quebec, March 29, 1865.

Canada Official Postal Guide.

Debates and Proceedings in Dominion Parliament, reported in Ottawa Times.

Hansard. Official Reports of the Debates of the House of Commons and of the Senate of the Dominion of Canada.

Kingsford, William. The History of Canada. London, 1890.

Hendy, J. G. Early Posts in Canada. Empire Review, London, 1903-4, vols. iv. and vi.

UNITED STATES

Bancroft, George. History of the United States of America. New York, 1883-5.

Burrows, Charles William. One-Cent Letter Postage, Second-Class Mail Rates, and Parcels Post. Cleveland, Ohio, 1911.

Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography. London, 1908.

Leavitt, Joshua (Corresponding Secretary, Cheap Postage Association). Cheap Postage. Boston, Mass., 1848.

Leech, D. D. T., and Nicholson, W. L. The Post Office Department of the United States of America; its History, Organization, and Working. Washington, D.C., 1879.

Newcomb, H. T. The Postal Deficit. Washington, D.C., 1900.

Nicholson, W. L. Vide Leech, D. D. T.

Norvell, S. Parcel Post. Address at Atlantic City, N.J., November 16, 1911.

Phelps, E. M. Selected Articles on the Parcels Post. Minneapolis, 1911.

Seitz, Don C. (Chairman, American Newspaper Publishers' Association). Statement before Commission on Second-Class Mail Matter. New York, 1911.

Slack, Stanley I. (Curator of the Postal Museum). A Brief History of the Postal Service. Omaha (undated).

Williams, Nathan B. The American Post Office. A Discussion of its History, Development, and Present-Day Relation to Express Companies. Washington, D.C., 1910.

Woolley, Mary E. The Early History of the Colonial Post Office. Providence, R.I., 1894.

History of the Railway Mail Service. Columbia Correspondence College. Washington, D.C., 1903.

International Parcels Post. Some Serious Errors Corrected, 1912. Document H.E. 6171.I.6, Library of Congress.

Report to Members of the American Weekly Publishers' Association of Proceedings before the Postal Commission on Second-Class Mail Matter. New York, 1906.

The Private Profit Railway versus The Public Service Post Office. Postal Progress League (1908).

An Argument on Second-Class Postal Rates from the Business Side Alone. Submitted to the Postal Commission on behalf of the Periodical Publishers' Association of America. New York, 1911.

An Answer to the Statement of the Post Office Department showing the estimates by which the cost of transporting and handling the several classes of Mail was obtained. The Periodical Publishers' Association of America. New York, 1911.

The Answer of the Magazines and their Demand. New York, 1911.

Progress of the Contest for a Free, Untrammelled, Independent Public Press in the United States. Address delivered before the Periodical Publishers' Association of America (April 17, 1912).

Mail-Carrying Railways Underpaid. A Statement by the Committee on Railway Mail Pay. New York, 1912.

Congressional and Official Papers.

Report of Committee on Rates of Pay for Carrying the Mails on Railroad Routes (1884).

Orders and Decisions relative to Railroad Mail Matter (1897).

A Brief Comparison of the Postal Facilities of Great Britain and the United States (1899).

Report of the Postal Committee of the National Board of Trade (1900).

Railway Mail Pay. Report of Joint Commission to Investigate the Postal Service (1901).

Record of Weight (July 1-December 31, 1906) of Second-Class Mail Matter (1907).

Report of Postal Commission on Second-Class Mail Matter (1907).

Report of Special Weighings of the Mails of 1907 (1908).

Preliminary Report of Joint Commission on Business Method of Post Office Department and Postal Service (1908).

Data relative to Proposed Extension of Parcel Post (1908).

Cost of Transporting and Handling the Several Classes of Mail Matter (1909).

Hearings before the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads of the House of Representatives on Second-Class Mail (1910).

1911.

Instructions to Publishers in the Preparation of Second-Class Matter for Mailing and Dispatch (May 1).

Information issued by the Second Assistant Postmaster-General relative to the Transportation of Mails by Railroad.

Letter from Postmaster-General submitting a Report giving Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation Receipts and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and recommending Legislation on the Subject (August 15).

Hearings of the Commission on Second-Class Mail Matter:—

Statements on behalf of the Post Office Department (August 1).

Supplemental Statement on behalf of the Post Office Department (September 14).

Supplemental Statement on behalf of the Post Office Department (October 20 and 21).

Memorandum filed on behalf of the Publishers of Certain Magazines.

Memorandum on behalf of the Post Office Department in Reply to "Memorandum filed on behalf of the Publishers of Certain Magazines" (October 28).

Supplemental Memorandum filed on behalf of the Publishers of Certain Magazines.

Memorandum on behalf of the Post Office Department in Reply to "Supplemental Memorandum filed on behalf of the Publishers of Certain Magazines" (November 27).

1912.

Hearings before the Sub-Committee on Parcel Post of the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads.

Parcel Post in Foreign Countries (prepared under the direction of Hon. Jonathan Bourne, Jun., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads).

Hearings before the Committee on Expenditure in the Post Office Department—Rural Delivery Service.

Parcel Post. Speech of Hon. David J. Lewis, of Maryland, in the House of Representatives (February 2).

Message of President transmitting Annual Report of the Postmaster-General and Report of the Commission on Second-Class Mail Matter (February 22).

Postal Express as a Solution of the Parcel Post and High Cost of Living Problems, by Hon. David J. Lewis, Member of Congress (March 5).

The Parcel Post and Postal Express Situation in Congress. Letter to the People of the United States by Hon. Obadiah Gardner, United States Senator from the State of Maine (April 4).

Postal Express: Report from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (April 25).

Alphabetical Scheme of New York for use of Publishers in the Distribution of Second-Class Mail (May).

Hearings before Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads re Transportation of Periodical Second-Class Mail Matter by Freight (June 5-11).

Report on Post Office Appropriation Bill from Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads (July 23).

Parcel Post Bill. Speech by Hon. David J. Lewis in House of Representatives (August 19).

Post Office Appropriations Act (containing authority for establishment of Inland Parcel Post).

The Postal Laws and Regulations pertaining to the Second Class of Mail Matter (October.)

The Lewis Publishing Company v. The Post Office Department. Brief for the Post Office Department (November 19).

1913.

Parcel Post Regulations.

Interstate Commerce Commission: In the Matter of Express Rates, Practices, Accounts, and Revenues. Opinion No. 1967.

Reports of the Postmaster-General on the Post Office. Annually.

Abstract of Laws passed between 1792 and 1910, fixing the Rates of Postage on Newspapers and other Periodical Publications when sent in the Domestic Mails.

Abstract of Laws passed between 1792 and 1910 fixing Rates of Postage on Domestic Mail Matter.

Journals of Congress. Philadelphia, 1781-2.

Journals of the Continental Congress. Philadelphia, 1774-89 (pub. Washington, D.C., 1904).

Gales and Seaton's Register of Debates in Congress. Washington, D.C., 1825.

The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Gales and Seaton, Washington, D.C., 1849.

Abridgement of Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856. New York, 1861.

Congressional Globe. Washington, D.C.

Congressional Record. Washington, D.C.

The Postal Laws and Regulations of the United States of America. Washington, D.C., 1912.

FRANCE

Belloc, A. Les Postes françaises. Paris, 1886.

Bernede, Charles. Des Postes en générale, et particulièrement en France. Nantes, 1826.

Bonnet, Edgar. Importance des Postes et Télégraphes au point de vue social et économique. Paris, 1891.

Cazes, Léon. Le Monopole postale. Paris, 1900.

Delmas, Albert. Les Agents des Postes et le Parlement Républicain. Paris, 1902.

Gallois, E. La Poste et les Moyens de Communication des Peuples à travers les Siècles. Paris, 1894.

Gouin, M. (Administrateur des Postes). Essai historique sur l'établissement des Postes en France. Paris, 1823.

Jaccottey, Paul (Professeur Adjoint à l'Ecole Professionnelle supérieure des Postes et des Télégraphes). Traité de Législation et d'Exploitation postales. Paris, 1891.

Maury, Lucien. Les Postes romaines. Paris, 1890.

Mercier, René. La Franchise postale. Librairie nouvelle de Droit et de Jurisprudence. Paris, 1904.

Paulhan, L. La Poste aux Lettres.

Rothschild, A. de. Histoire de la Poste aux Lettres. Paris, 1879.

Les Services postaux français. Paris, 1905.

Répertoire du Droit administratif. Paris, 1905.

Official Papers.

Rapport au Président de la République sur les Conditions du Fonctionnement de l'Administration des Postes et des Télégraphes, par A. Millerand, le Ministre du Commerce, de l'Industrie, des Postes, et des Télégraphes. May 12, 1900.

Proceedings in National Assembly. Reported in Moniteur Universel.

Proceedings in Parliament. Reported in Journal Officiel.

Chambre des Députés. Rapport fait au nom de la Commission du Budget chargée d'examiner le projet de loi portant fixation du Budget général, Postes, Télégraphes, et Téléphones. (Annually.)

Sénat. Rapport fait au nom de la Commission du Budget chargée d'examiner le projet de loi portant fixation du Budget général, Postes, Télégraphes, et Téléphones. (Annually.)

GERMANY

Crole, B. E. Geschichte der deutschen Post von ihren Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Eisenach, 1889.

Dambach, Otto. Das Gesetz über das Postwesen des deutschen Reiches vom 28. Oktober 1871. Berlin, 1890.

Dieckmann, Carl. Postgeschichte deutscher Staaten seit einem halben Jahrtausend. Leipsic, 1896.

Faulhaber, B. Geschichte des Postwesens in Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt a. M., 1883.

Grosse, Oskar. Die Beseitigung des Thurn und Taxis'schen Postwesens in Deutschland durch Heinrich Stephan. Minden in Westf., 1898.

Grunow, F. W. Zur Reform des Paketportos in Deutschland und Österreich-Ungarn. Leipsic, 1898.

Haass, Friedrich. Die Post und der Charakter ihrer Einkünfte, mit einem Anhang über die Packetpost. Stuttgart, 1890.

Holzamer, J. Zur Geschichte der Briefportoreform in den Culturstaaten. Tübingen, 1879.

Hull, C. H. "Die deutsche Reichs-Packetpost." Sammlung nationalökonomischer und statistischer Abhandlungen des staatswissenschaftlichen Seminars zu Halle (Saale) von Prof. Dr. Conrad. Jena, 1892.

Jung, J. Entwickelung des deutschen Post- und Telegraphenwesen in den letzten 25 Jahren. Leipsic, 1893.

Köhler, B. Die Reichs-Post- und Telegraphentarife in ihren Rechtlichen Formen. Berlin, 1907.

Meyer, A. Die deutsche Post im Weltpostverein und im Wechselverkehr. Berlin, 1902.

Müller, C. F. Die Fürstlich Thurn und Taxis'schen Posten und Posttaxen. Jena, 1845.

Posten und Posttaxen. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1864.

Nickau, P. J. Wettbewerb in der Kleingewerbeförderung innerhalb des Reichspostgebiets. Würzburg, 1909.

Ohmann, F. Die Anfänge des Postwesens und die Taxis. Leipzig, 1909.

Perrot, F. Die Anwendung des Penny-Porto-Systems auf den Eisenbahntarif und das Packet-Porto. Rostock, 1872.

Portas, K. Deutsche Postzeitungsgebührentarif. Königsberg, 1914.

Rübsam, Joseph. Francis von Taxis, the Founder of the Modern Post, and Johann Baptista von Taxis, his Nephew, 1491-1541. L'Union Postale, Berne, 1892.

Schmid, K. A. H. Zur Geschichte der Briefporto-Reform in Deutschland. Jena, 1864.

Schmidt, Artur. Die Tarife der deutschen Reichs-Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung. Finanz-Archiv, Berlin, 1905-6.

von Stephan, Heinrich. Geschichte der preussischen Post. Berlin, 1859.

Ullrich, P. Die Finanzen der Reichs-Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung. Stettin, 1913.

Die Brieftaxe in Deutschland. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1862.

Die Uebernahme der Privat-Beförderungsbetriebe durch die Reichs-Postverwaltung. Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung, Berlin, March 1901.

Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften. Jena, 1901 and 1910.

Allgemeine Dienstanweisung für Post und Telegraphie. Berlin, 1901.

Archiv für Post und Telegraphie. Beihefte zum Amtsblatt des Reichs-Postamts. Fortnightly. Berlin.

Blätter für Post und Telegraphie. Zeitschrift der höheren Post- und Telegraphen-Beamten. Berlin.

Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Reichstags. Berlin. (Cited Reichstag, Official Reports.)

GENERAL

Acworth, W. M. Elements of Railway Economics. Oxford, 1905.

Adams, H. C. Science of Finance. New York, 1909.

Alexander, E. Porter. Railway Practice. New York, 1887.

Baines, F. E. Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones, and their Relation to Trade. London, 1896.

Bastable, C. F. Public Finance. London, 1903.

Bennett, A. R. The Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe. London, 1895.

Burritt, Elihu. Ocean Penny Postage. London, 1849.

Cohn, G. The Science of Finance. Translated by T. B. Veblen. Chicago, 1895.

Colson, C. Railway Rates and Traffic. London, 1914.

Darwin, Leonard. Municipal Trade. London, 1903.

Ely, R. T. Taxation in American States and Cities. New York, 1888.

Farrer, Lord. The State in its Relation to Trade. London, 1902.

Fischer, P. D. Post und Telegraphie im Weltverkehr. Berlin, 1879.

Giffen, Sir R. Essays in Finance. London, 1890.

Grierson, J. Railway Rates, English and Foreign. London, 1886.

Haass, Dr. Friedrich. Weltpostverein und Einheits-Porto (Welt-Penny Porto). Heidenheim (Brenz), 1914.

Hadley, A. T. Railroad Transportation. Its History and its Laws. New York, 1886.

Hamilton, I. G. J. An Outline of Postal History and Practice, with a History of the Post Office in India. Calcutta, 1910.

Jevons, W. S. A State Parcel Post. Contemporary Review, January 1879.

Methods of Social Reform. London, 1883.

Jones, R. The Nature and First Principle of Taxation. London, 1914.

Jürgensohn, Arved. Weltportoreform. Berlin, 1910.

Knoop, D. Outlines of Railway Economics. London, 1913.

Lee, John. Economics of Telegraphs and Telephones. London, 1913.

Leroy-Beaulieu, P. Traité de la Science des Finances. Paris, 1899.

McCulloch, J. R. Taxation and the Funding System. London, 1863.

Merritt, A. N. Scope of Government Functions. Journal of Political Economy, Chicago, July 1908.

Meyer, H. R. Public Ownership and the Telephone in Great Britain. New York, 1907.

Northcote, Stafford. Twenty Years of Financial Policy. London, 1862.

Parnell, Sir H. On Financial Reform. London, 1832.

Plehn, C. C. Introduction to Public Finance. New York, 1909.

Ripley, W. Z. Railway Problems. Boston, U.S.A., 1907.

Say, L. Dictionnaire des Finances. Paris, 1889.

Seligman, E. R. A. Essays in Taxation. New York, 1913.

Spencer, Herbert. The Man versus the State. London, 1884.

Stein, L. von. Lehrbuch der Finanzwissenschaft. Leipsic, 1885.

Terra, Otto de. Im Zeichen des Verkehrs. Berlin, 1899.

Wagner, Adolph. Finanzwissenschaft. Leipsic, 1890.

Wilhelm, Julius. Frachtporto. Vienna, 1900.

Memoranda, chiefly relating to the Classification and Incidence of Imperial and Local Taxes. Bluebook C. 9528, 1899.

Ruffy, M. E. L'Union postale universelle. Sa fondation et son développement. Lausanne, 1900.

Official Documents of the International Postal Congresses. Published by the International Bureau, Berne.

Statistique générale des postes. (Annually.) Berne.

L'Union postale. (Monthly.) Berne.

Note.—The foregoing list includes particulars of the chief works consulted, but is not in any sense a complete bibliography.