It is unfortunate that of the early performances of this coach no record remains. We only know that on the first journey it started from Bristol and not from London, and that Palmer was present to see it off; that, ordinarily, the distance was accomplished in seventeen hours, being at the rate of about seven miles an hour; and that, as a result, the expresses to Bristol, which before 1784 had been as many as 200 in the year, ceased altogether. Ten or twelve years later, indeed, the expresses for the whole of the kingdom were not one-fifth of what, before 1784, was the number for the city of Bristol alone.
Palmer's plan, once introduced, made rapid progress. Mail-coaches began to run through Norfolk and Suffolk in March 1785; and on the cross-road between Bristol and Portsmouth in the following May. On the 25th of July the plan was extended to Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool, and during the next two months to Gloucester and Swansea; to Hereford, Carmarthen, and Milford Haven; to Worcester and Ludlow; to Birmingham and Shrewsbury; to Chester and Holyhead; to Exeter; to Portsmouth; to Dover and other places. The Great North Road was reserved to the last, and here the plan was carried into effect in the summer of 1786.
It may be convenient here to say a few words on the subject of nomenclature. Post-coach, a term in vogue about this time,[60] might not unnaturally be supposed to denote a coach in use by the Post Office. Such, however, was not the case. The term post-coach, like the kindred term post-chaise, was introduced probably early in the last century, and, so far as we are aware, was never employed in the sense of mail-coach. It should further be noticed that the term mail-coach, although we have employed it to make our meaning clear, did not come into use until after 1784. In that year, and for some little time afterwards, coaches which carried the mails were called diligences or machines, and the coachmen were called machine-drivers.
The plan of carrying letters by mail-coach was, on its introduction, sadly marred by a simultaneous or almost simultaneous increase in the rates of postage. Pitt had brought forward his budget on the 30th of June; and among the measures he proposed with a view to replenish an exhausted Exchequer was a tax upon coals. The proposal was not well received by the House, and it was afterwards withdrawn in favour of an increase of postage. Palmer took credit to himself that he had proposed the substitution. If, as would appear to be the case, the claim is well founded, one can only regret that he should thus wantonly have handicapped his own proceedings. It is true, no doubt, that he was about to make the post both quicker and more secure; that he would have a better article to dispose of, an article that would fetch a higher price. It is also true that his plan, weighted as it was, proved an unqualified success. And yet it is impossible to deny that his reputation as a Post Office reformer, high as it stands, would have stood still higher if his counsel had been on the side of reduction.
The rates prescribed by the Act of 1784, as compared with those of 1765, were as follows:—
| 1765 | 1784. | |||||||
| S | D | T | O | S | D | T | O | |
| i | o | r | u | i | o | r | u | |
| n | u | e | n | n | u | e | n | |
| g | b | b | c | g | b | b | c | |
| l | l | l | e | l | l | l | e | |
| e | e | e | . | e | e | e | . | |
| Distance. | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||
| d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | |
| Not exceeding one post stage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Exceeding one and not | ||||||||
| exceeding two post stages | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 |
| Exceeding two post stages | ||||||||
| and not exceeding 80 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 |
| Exceeding 80 and not | ||||||||
| exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 |
| Exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 |
| To and from Edinburgh | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 |
| { The Irish Post Office had only | |
| { recently been placed under the | |
| { authority of the Irish Parliament; | |
| To and from Dublin | { and the rates of postage, not only |
| {within Ireland, but between Ireland | |
| { and Great Britain, were awaiting | |
| { revision. | |
| Within Scotland. | ||||||||
| (Measured from Edinburgh.) | ||||||||
| Not exceeding one post stage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Exceeding one post stage and | ||||||||
| not exceeding 50 miles | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 |
| Exceeding 50 miles and not | ||||||||
| exceeding 80 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 |
| Exceeding 80 and not | ||||||||
| exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 |
| Exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 |
The same Act which increased the rates of postage imposed, or sought to impose, additional restrictions upon franking. Some concessions indeed were made. Letters from members of Parliament, in order to secure exemption, need no longer be limited, in point of weight, to two ounces and, in point of time, to the session of Parliament and forty days before and after. As part of the superscription, however, were now to be given the full date of the letter, the day, the month, and the year, all in the member's handwriting; and the letter was to be posted on the date which the superscription bore. These restrictions, it was confidently expected, would correct the worst abuses and render the concessions harmless. But, curiously enough, like the restrictions of 1764, they had an exactly contrary effect to that which was intended. The members sent to their constituents and friends, for use as occasion should serve, franks that were post-dated. These the Post Office charged, as coming from places where the members were known not to be. The members remonstrated, demanding to be informed in what respects the conditions of the Act had not been satisfied. The dispute waxing warm, the matter was referred to Pitt; and Pitt, after testing the opinion of the House, decided that pending fresh legislation the charges should be abandoned. Practically, therefore, the abuses which the Act was designed to prevent were not only not prevented but were given wider scope.
Palmer maintained to the end of his life that during the two years which followed the starting of the first mail-coach he was thwarted and opposed by the Post Office. This charge, so far as it refers to those by whom the Post Office was managed and controlled, we believe to be groundless. That he had difficulties with contractors and postmasters is beyond question. Contractors were at all times troublesome persons to deal with, but they were not Post Office servants; and postmasters might well be excused if they looked askance at the new plan. Their salaries, low as they were, had long been shamefully reduced by exactions at headquarters under the name of fees; and what little they had been able to make out of their allowances for riding-work was now threatened by a system under which that work was to be done by contract. But the charge was not confined to contractors and postmasters. It extended to those who controlled and directed the Post Office, to Carteret and Tankerville and to their confidential adviser, the secretary; and, as we believe, with very insufficient reason. Carteret was indifferent. Tankerville was sincerely desirous of a reform of the posts, from whatever quarter it might come. Anthony Todd, the secretary, was eminently a man of peace. Appointed to the Post Office in 1738, he had arrived at a time of life when to most men ease and quiet are essential; and not only was he well advanced in years but it was not in his nature to thwart or oppose any one. All he wanted was to be left alone; and he was shrewd enough to know that the best way to secure this object was not to molest others.