The statute of Queen Anne provided that a weekly payment of 700l. should be made to the Exchequer from the Post-Office for a period of thirty-two years. This term having expired in 1743, an Act was passed in that year making the payment perpetual, and all clauses, powers, &c. in the Act of 1711 were also made perpetual. In order to keep up this source of revenue, which was too good to relinquish, the rates of postage, instead of being lowered again as stipulated, were kept up, and several times during subsequent years, as we shall see, fresh additions were made to the burdens of letter-writers. While on this subject, we may simply state the clause of Queen Anne's Act relating to the disposal of the surplus revenue. All pensions were to be paid out of it, and the remainder retained by the Queen "for the better support of Her Majesty's household, and for the honour and dignity of the Crown of Great Britain." On the accession of George I. a bill, granting the same rights and privileges during the King's lifetime, was passed in the first session of Parliament. In the first year of the reign of George II. and his grandson George III. the same rights and privileges were obtained under the self-same conditions. Though the conditions of the following Act were, in reality, carried out several years previously, when a salary of 700,000l. a-year was granted to the King for the support of his household, section 48 of 27 George III. enacts that, for the King's lifetime, "the entire net revenue of the Post-Office shall be carried to and made part of the fund, to be called 'the Consolidated Fund.'" It is scarcely needful to say that this arrangement has existed from 1787 to the present time.
From the date of Allen's improvement in 1720 to the year 1761, when the postage of letters was again disturbed and many other alterations made, little of special importance was done in the Post-Office, and we cannot do better than take advantage of this quiet time to give some account of the internal arrangements of the establishment, and to notice certain minutiæ, which, though trifling in themselves, will serve to give the reader an insight into the details, the way and means, of this early period.[40] In the time of George I. the officers of the Post-Office in London consisted of two Postmasters-General, with a secretary and a clerk. There were four chief officers in the Inland-office—viz. a controller, a receiver, an accountant, and a solicitor. The staff of clerks consisted of seven for the different roads—Chester, North West, Bristol, Yarmouth, Kent, and Kent night-road. Thirteen clerks were engaged in other duties, and three more clerks attended at the window to answer inquiries and deliver letters. The foreign office, which was a separate department, included a controller and an alphabet keeper, with eight assistant clerks. The whole London establishment, which at the present day numbers several thousand officers of different grades, was then, without counting letter-carriers, worked with a staff of thirty-two.
"To show the method, diligence, and exactness of our General Post-Office," says a writer of the period, "and the due despatch of the post at each stage, take this specimen." And for our purpose we cannot do better than take Stowe's advice, and insert here a copy of a Post-Office proclamation to postmasters and time-bill, given in his History of London:—
"Whereas the management of the postage of the letters of Great Britain and Ireland is committed to our care and conduct: these are therefore in His Majesty's name to require you in your respective stages to use all diligence and expedition in the safe and speedy conveyance of this mail and letters: that you ride five miles an hour according to your articles from London to East Grinstead, and from thence to return accordingly. And hereof you are not to fail, as you will answer the contrary at your perils.
Signed, Cornwallis.
James Craggs."[41]To the several Postmasters betwixt London and East Grinstead.
Haste, Haste, Post Haste!
Miles. From the Letter-Office at half an hour past two in the morning, July 17, 1719. 16 Received at Epsom half an hour past six, and sent away three-quarters past. Alexander Findlater. 8 Received at Dorking half an hour after eight, and sent away at nine. Chas. Castleman. 6 Received at Rygate half an hour past ten, and sent away again at eleven. John Bullock. 16 Received at East Grinstead at half an hour after three in the afternoon.
| Miles. | From the Letter-Office at half an hour past two in the morning, July 17, 1719. |
| 16 | Received at Epsom half an hour past six, and sent away three-quarters past. Alexander Findlater. |
| 8 | Received at Dorking half an hour after eight, and sent away at nine. Chas. Castleman. |
| 6 | Received at Rygate half an hour past ten, and sent away again at eleven. John Bullock. |
| 16 | Received at East Grinstead at half an hour after three in the afternoon. |
The speed at which the East Grinstead mail travelled was greater than usual: few post-boys, in the provinces at any rate, were required to go at a greater rate than three or four miles an hour. Not only this, but the boys as a rule were without discipline; difficult to control; sauntered on the road at pleasure, and were quite an easy prey to any robber or ill-disposed persons who might think it worth their while to interfere with them. About this time, we find the Post-Office surveyor complaining dolorously to headquarters, that the gentry "doe give much money to the riders, whereby they be very subject to get in liquor, which stopes the males." Expresses at that time travelled somewhat quicker, but still not quick enough for some persons. On one occasion, Mr. Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford) complained of delay in an express which had been sent to him; but the Postmasters-General thought there were no grounds for complaint, inasmuch "as it had travelled 136 miles in 36 hours, which," added they, "is the usual rate of expresses."
In the year 1696, the Treasury sanctioned an arrangement for conveying the mails between Bristol and Exeter, twice a week, under the stipulation that the distance of sixty-five miles should be performed in twenty-four hours!
In Scotland, about the same time, this work was done even slower, and with greater hardships. The post-boy walked all distances under twenty miles; longer distances required that the messenger should be mounted, though no relays of horses were allowed, however long and tedious the journey might be.[42]
At this time, it was only a secondary consideration, when or how letters should be delivered. For a number of years the authorities were simply bent on raising revenue out of the Post-Office. Thus, about the period of which we are speaking, a request was made to the authorities from certain inhabitants of Warwick, that the London letters for that place should be sent direct to Warwick and not through Coventry, by which latter route a great many hours were lost. A decided negative was returned to this very reasonable request, and for the following cogent official reason, which exhibits well the exacting tendencies of the Government. "From London to Warwick, through Coventry, is more than eighty miles," say the Postmasters-General; "so that we can charge 6d. per letter going that way, whereas we could only charge 3d. if they went direct." No doubt this reply is given to the Lords of the Treasury, through whom all such applications as the foregoing had then, and still have, to pass; for it cannot be imagined that they gave this reply to the people of Warwick themselves. "Perhaps, however," add the Post-Office officials, with some glimmering idea of the true business principle, "we might get more letters at the cheaper rate." Present profits, nevertheless, could not be sacrificed, even though there should be a prospect of increased future revenue. Another instance is on record, proving that in this respect the Post-Office authorities of the period were wiser than the executive that held them in check. The Postmasters-General apply (fruitlessly however) to the Treasury to lower the rates of postage in a particular district, and in urging their request, state that "we have, indeed, found by experience, that where we have made the correspondence more easie and cheape, the number of letters has been thereby much increased, and therefore we do believe such a settlement may be attended with a like effect in these parts."