And now a blow which had long been impending fell. This was the transfer from the Post Office to the Admiralty of the packets stationed at Falmouth. The question had been discussed again and again during the war; but how it came to be revived at this particular time is not very clear. There had indeed been a mutiny among the seamen at Falmouth, and the packets had been temporarily removed to Plymouth; but many years had since elapsed, and now, so far as appeared, matters were perfectly quiet. We only know that at the instance of Lord Liverpool a memorandum was prepared by Lord Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and that after a sharp paper-warfare between him and Freeling the arguments in favour of the change prevailed. At Falmouth thirty packets were employed, nearly double the number at all the other stations put together; and these thirty packets with their crews of 600 seamen, whose deeds of daring had often shed lustre on the Post Office, were now made over to another department. Freeling was in despair. This little fleet had, next perhaps to the mail-coaches, been the object of his keenest solicitude; and it gave him little consolation that the packets at the other stations—at Dover and Harwich, at Weymouth, Milford, Holyhead, and Portpatrick, were to remain under the charge of the Post Office.
Some little comfort, however, was at hand. Steam packets being beyond the means of the captains to purchase, the Government provided them and purchased the sailing packets, which they replaced, at a valuation. Thus the Post Office became once more absolute owner of its own boats. This, though by no means reconciling Freeling to the loss of the Falmouth packets, was at all events some compensation. "The steam flotilla belonging to the Post Office," he was able to write in 1827, "consists of no less than nineteen vessels complete, to the aggregate amount of 4000 tons, with machinery equal on the whole to the power of 1540 horses."
Exaggerated opinions have been expressed as to the speed of the mail-coaches during the first two decades of the present century. In 1821 few mail-coaches travelled as much as eight miles an hour, and only one mail-coach attained to a speed of nine miles, and that for only part of the journey. The exact rates of travelling are shewn in the following table:—
1821.
| Number | Hour | Hour | Rate of | ||
| Mail Coach | of | of | of | Travelling | Remarks. |
| from London to | Miles. | Despatch. | Arrival. | per hour. | |
| M. F. | M. | ||||
| Berwick | 341 6 | 8.0 p.m. | 6.15 p.m. | 7-13/16 | The rates of |
| Berwick to | travelling | ||||
| Edinburgh | 59 4 | — | 2.55 a.m. | 7-2/16 | include |
| Birmingham | 110 2 | 8.0 p.m. | 10.0 a.m. | 7-13/16 | stoppages for |
| Bristol | 122 4 | " | " | 8-10/16 | change of |
| Carlisle by | horses, but | ||||
| Manchester | 311 4 | " | 1.30 p.m. | 8-5/16 | not stoppages |
| Carlisle by | for refresh- | ||||
| Boroughbridge | 302 6 | " | 1.40 p.m. | 7-10/16 | ment and for |
| Carlisle to | Post Office | ||||
| Glasgow | 103 2 | — | 4.50 a.m. | 7-4/16 | business. |
| Chester | 191 0 | 8.0 p.m. | 10.50 p.m. | 7-8/16 | |
| Chester to | |||||
| Holyhead | 88 0 | — | 7.5 a.m. | 7-7/16 | |
| Dover | 73 4 | 8.0 p.m. | 6.45 a.m. | 7 | For a |
| Exeter | 176 2 | " | 7.40 p.m. | 7-11/16 | considerable |
| Exeter by Bath | 194 0 | " | 7.50 p.m. | 8-7/16 | part of the |
| Gloucester | 111 0 | " | 10.0 a.m. | 8-3/16 | distance the |
| Holyhead | 264 6 | " | 6.50 a.m. | 7-15/16 | London and |
| Leeds | 196 0 | " | 11.25 p.m. | 7-8/16 | Bristol |
| Liverpool | 207 4 | " | 12.10 a.m. | 7-6/16 | coach |
| Norwich by | travelled at | ||||
| Ipswich | 114 4 | " | 11.0 a.m. | 7-14/16 | the rate of |
| Ipswich to | nine miles an | ||||
| Yarmouth | 54 2 | — | 11.56 a.m. | 7-15/16 | hour. |
| Poole | 117 4 | 8.0 p.m. | 11.20 a.m. | 7-14/16 | |
| Portsmouth | 72 6 | " | 6.45 a.m. | 7-1/16 | |
| Worcester | 114 4 | " | 10.40 a.m. | 8-7/16 |
It was not until some fourteen or fifteen years later, when the main roads of the kingdom had passed under Telford's hands and vehicles of lighter build had been introduced, that mail-coaches attained the speed which is very commonly ascribed to an earlier period. In 1836 there were in England 104 mail-coaches, all drawn by four horses. Of these the fastest was the Liverpool and Preston coach, which travelled at the rate of ten miles and five furlongs an hour; and the slowest was the coach between Canterbury and Deal, which travelled at the rate of only six miles an hour. The average speed of all the mail-coaches in 1836, namely eight miles and seven furlongs an hour, was actually higher than the highest speed attained by any one mail-coach in 1821. It should be added that in 1821, as in 1836, the number of passengers by a mail-coach was limited to four inside and four out. On some mail-coaches, indeed, no more than three outside passengers were allowed.
But the mail-coach at the beginning of the present century did something more than carry mails and passengers. It was the great disseminator of news. In times of excitement men would stand waiting along the mail roads and learn the latest intelligence as shouted to them from the tops of the coaches. It may well be believed that this mode of communication did not tend to either accuracy or completeness of statement. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that on important occasions or occasions on which false or inexact intelligence might lead to mischief recourse should have been had to the expedient of printing hand-bills, and sending them to the postmasters with instructions to distribute them in their respective towns. The following are specimens of hand-bills which were so distributed:—
London, February 10, 1817.
The statement in the morning papers that several persons have been arrested by warrants from the Secretary of State is true.
The meeting was held this morning at Spa Fields; but the arrests which have taken place and the precautions adopted by Government caused everything to end peaceably and the town is perfectly quiet.
17th November 1818.Her Majesty the Queen expired at one o'clock this day.
The following hand-bill sent to the different ports where vessels from Jamaica were likely to arrive is interesting in so far as it shews the exceptional facilities which, even seventy or eighty years ago, the Post Office possessed for making inquiries:—