The Development of Rates of Postage Part 31

"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, const.i.tutes 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 Sat.u.r.days-- 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 s.h.i.+lling, 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 Princ.i.p.al 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 s.h.i.+lling 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 s.p.a.ce 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 {Single 0 6 distance, Carriage paid to Rouen {Double 1 0 {Treble 1 6 {Ounce 1 6

Hamburgh, Colen, Frankfort, Carriage paid to Antwerp, is {Single 0 8 {Double 1 4 {Treble 2 0 {Ounce 2 0

Venice, Geneva, Legorn, Rome, Naples, Messina, and all {Single 0 9 otherparts of Italy by way of Venice, Franct pro Mantua {Double 1 6 {Treble 2 3 {Ounce 2 8

Ma.r.s.eilles, Smirna, Constantinople, Aleppo, and all parts {Single 1 0 of Turky, Carriage paid to Ma.r.s.eilles {Double 2 0 {3/4 Ounce 2 9 {Ounce 2 8

And for Letters brought from the same places to England {Single 0 8 {Double 1 4 {Treble 2 0 {Ounce 2 0

The Carriage of Letters brought into England, from Calice, {Single 0 4 Diep, Bulloign, Abbeville, Amiens, St. Omers, Montrel {Double 0 8 {Treble 1 0 {Ounce 1 0

Rouen {Single 0 6 {Double 1 0 {Treble 1 6 {Ounce 1 6

Genoua, Legorn, Rome, and other parts of Italy by way of {Single 1 0 Lyons, Franct pro Lyons {Double 2 0 {3/4 Ounce 2 9 {Ounce 3 9 The Carriage of Letters Outwards--

To Bourdeaux, Rochel, Nants, Orleans, Bayon, Tours, and {Single 0 9 places of like distance, Carriage paid to Paris {Double 1 6 {Treble 2 3 {Ounce 2 0

Letters brought from the same places into England {Single 1 0 {Double 2 0 {3/4 Ounce 3 0 {Ounce 4 0 The Carriage of Letters Outwards--

To Norembourgh, Bremen, Dantzick, Lubeck, Lipswick, and {Single 1 0 other places of like distance, Carriage paid to Hamburgh {Double 2 0 {3/4 Ounce 3 0 {Ounce 4 0

Paris {Single 0 9 {Double 1 6 {Treble 2 3 {Ounce 2 0

Dunkirk, Ostend, Lisle, Ipers, Cambray, Ghent, Bruxels, {Single 0 8 Bruges, Antwerp, and all other parts of Flanders. {Double 1 4 Sluce, Flus.h.i.+ng, Middleburgh, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delph, {Treble 2 0 Hague, and all other parts of Holland and Zealand. {Ounce 2 0

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 Ma.r.s.eilles, 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;

{France, two Pacquet-Boats.

Between England and {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 50,000_l_. a Year.

(vi) THE CROSS POSTS.[759]

No. 1 (_a_).

To the R^{t}. Hon^{ble}. Sidney L^{d}. G.o.dolphin Lord High Trearer of England.

May it please y^r. Lo^{pp}.

My Lord Grandville and seaverall Gentlemen of Cornwell having represented to Us that by reason of the Post Road pa.s.sing along the South Coast of Cornwell seaverel Inland Towns are under great disadvantages in their Correspondence paying two pence p^r Letter over & above the Common Postage being serv'd only by a By Post; We did give directions to Our Deputys of Exeter, Plym^o, 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 Ma^{tie}. 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 p^{r} Ann a Sum more considerable than We at first apprehended; but We doubt the Charge Her Ma^{tie}. 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 pa.s.s Frank: If Y^{r} Lo^{pp}. shall think fitting a Post be Settled for the Midland Towns, as well as for the South Coast, We shall upon y^{r} 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 Y^{r}. Lo^{pp}. an Establishm^t. to be approved by Y^{r}. Lo^{pp}.

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 y^{r}. Lo^{pp}.

R.C. T.F.