[HER MAJESTY'S MAILS.]
[CHAPTER I.]
INTRODUCTORY.
Circular letters, and a kind of post for conveying them, are frequently mentioned both in sacred and profane history. Queen Jezebel is remarkable as being the first letter-writer on record, though it is not surprising to find that she used her pen for purposes of deception. According to the sacred chronicler, she "wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles in the city." From the Book of Esther we learn that Ahasuerus, king of Persia, being displeased at the disobedience of his wife, Vashti, sent letters into every province of his vast empire, informing his subjects that it was his imperial will that "every man should bear rule in his own house." The first recorded riding post was established in the Persian empire by Cyrus, who, when engaged in his Scythian expedition, in order to have news brought expeditiously, "caused it to be tried how far a horse could go in a day without baiting, and, at that distance, appointed stages and men whose business it was to have horses always in readiness."[1] Another authority[2] tells us that there were one hundred and eleven postal stages, a day's journey distant from one another, between Susa and the Ægean Sea, and that at each stage a large and beautiful structure was erected, with every convenience for the purpose designed.
It is certainly remarkable that neither in this nor in any other recorded instance have the posts in ancient times developed into one for the conveyance of private correspondence. It is certain that the Greeks and Romans, even when at the height of their civilization, had no regular public post. There are some traces of statores and stationes under the Roman Republic; and Augustus, we find, instituted posts on the principal trunk-roads, for the use of the Imperial Government. He also established a class of mounted messengers, called tabellarii, who went in charge of the despatches. That these messengers should have been strictly forbidden to convey letters for private persons, or that no provision was subsequently made for that purpose, is the more wonderful, when we consider the high character of the nations themselves, and the fact, often pointed out, that the progress of civilization has always been intimately and essentially connected with, and dependent upon, facilities for intercommunication—keeping pace, in fact, with the means which nations possessed for the interchange of person and property, and with them of thought and knowledge. That those nations to which we are so greatly indebted for so much that exalts the intellect and adorns life, should not have left us an example of such a useful and (considering the vast extent of their respective territories), we should have thought, indispensable institution as that of a public letter-post, is marvellous.
Marco Polo, the famous Venetian, who travelled in China in the fourteenth century,[3] describes the government post as similar to that in use in Persia under Cyrus. The posts had existed in China from the earliest times. Every twenty-five miles there were posts, called jambs, where the imperial envoy was received. There were frequently as many as three or four hundred horses in waiting at one of these places. Polo further states that there were ten thousand stations of this kind in China, some of them affording sumptuous accommodation to travellers. Two hundred thousand horses are said to have been engaged in the service. The fact affords a curious commentary on the progress of civilization in the Celestial Empire, that, though this gigantic and elaborate establishment has been in existence so long and up to the present century, it is only within the last few years that provision has been made in China for public letter-posts.
The earliest date in modern history at which any postal service is mentioned, is the year 807, when an organization was planned by the Emperor Charlemagne. The service, however, did not survive him. The first regular European letter-post was established in the Hanse Towns in the early part of the thirteenth century. This federation of republics required constant communication with each other; for, being largely engaged in similar commercial pursuits, it became indispensable to their existence that some system of letter-conveyance should be originated. The next establishment was a line of letter-posts connecting Austria with Lombardy, in the reign of the Emperor Maximilian, said to have been organized by the princes of the house of Thurn and Taxis. The representatives of the same house established another line of posts from Vienna to Brussels, thus further connecting the most distant parts of the vast dominions of the Spanish Emperor, Charles V. It may be mentioned here, that the Counts of Thurn and Taxis have, in virtue of their original establishment, which they controlled from the first, always held peculiar rights and privileges in relation to the postal systems of Germany; and up to this day the posts of the house of Thurn and Taxis are entirely distinct from the existing Crown establishments, and, in fact, are maintained in rivalry to those of some of the German states. In France, in the fifteenth century, Louis XI. revived the system of Charlemagne, organizing a body of 230 couriers for purposes of state.
We may gather from the existing materials, scanty though they be, something like a continuous account of the early history of the English post-office, tracing, very clearly, its progress from the fifteenth century to its present position.
While the general post dates from the Stuarts, the establishment of a regular riding post in England owes its origin to Edward IV. The English post seems from the first to have been fully commensurate with the demands for its service, its growth depending on the gradual advance which the country made in other measures of social progress. Four or five centuries ago, few private persons could either read or write. On the other hand, the business of the State demanded correspondence. The king had his barons to summon, or his sheriffs to instruct, and letters of writ were issued accordingly, a few Government messengers supplying all the wants of the time. Now and then the nobles would require to address each other, and sometimes to correspond with their dependents, but, as a general rule, neither the serf nor his master had the power, even if they had the will, to engage much in writing. As time wore on, and we come nearer the age of the Tudors, the desire for learning spread, though still the few who engaged in literary or scientific pursuits were either attached to the Court or to the monastic establishments. Even when the Tudor dynasty came in, trade with foreign countries, and remote districts in our own country, was almost equally unknown. Each district dwelt alone, supplied its own wants, and evinced very little desire for any closer communication.
In the earliest times in England, and prior to the first regular horse posts, both public and private letters were sent by private messengers, travelling when required. In the reign of Henry I. messengers were first permanently employed by the king. So early as the reign of King John the payments to Nuncii—as these messengers were now called—for the conveyance of Government despatches, are to be found entered in the Close and Misæ Rolls, "and the entries of these payments may be traced in an almost unbroken series through the records of many subsequent reigns." Nuncii were also attached to the establishments of the principal barons of the time, and communications passed between them by means of those functionaries. In the reign of Henry III., the son and successor of King John, these messengers began to wear the royal livery. At first it was necessary for them to keep horses of their own, or use those belonging to the royal or baronial mansion. In the reign of Edward I. we find that fixed stations or posts were established, at which places horses were kept for hire, the Nuncii ceasing to provide horses of their own, or borrowing from private individuals. Several private letters are in existence, dating as far back as the reign of Edward II., which bear the appearance of having been carried by the Nuncii of that period, with "Haste, post, haste!" written on the backs of them.