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Transcriber's Notes:

(1) Obvious spelling, punctuation, and typographical errors have been
corrected.

(2) Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

(3) Table V in the Appendix has been split into two parts (Scotland and
Ireland), in view of its page width.

____________________________________________




THE HISTORY OF
THE BRITISH POST OFFICE

BY
J. C. HEMMEON, PH.D.

_PUBLISHED FROM THE INCOME OF THE
WILLIAM H. BALDWIN, JR., 1885, FUND_

[Illustration]

CAMBRIDGE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1912




COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

_Published January 1912_




PREFACE


In justice to those principles which influenced the policy of the Post
Office before the introduction of penny postage, it is perhaps
unnecessary to call attention to the fact that no opinion as to their
desirability or otherwise is justifiable which does not take into
consideration the conditions and prejudices which then prevailed. Some
of the earlier writers on the Post Office have made the mistake of
condemning everything which has not satisfied the measure of their own
particular rule. If there is anything that the historical treatment of a
subject teaches the investigator it is an appreciation of the fact that
different conditions call for different methods of treatment. For
example, the introduction of cheap postage was possibly delayed too
long. But during the era of high postal rates a large net revenue was of
primary importance, nor were those conditions present which would have
made low rates a success.

The consideration of such debatable subjects as the telegraph system of
the Postal Department and the department's attitude toward the telephone
companies, as well as the intention of the Post Office to acquire the
business of the latter, must necessarily give rise to controversy.
Thanks to the magnificent net revenue obtained from letters in the
United Kingdom the department has been able to lose a good deal of money
by the extension of its activities into the realm of affairs not purely
postal. Possibly a _democratic_ type of government should, from the
financial point of view, interfere least in the direct management of
economic institutions, on account of the pressure which can easily be
brought to bear upon it for the extension of such institutions on other
than economic grounds. If non-economic principles are to be substituted
in justifying the initiation or increase of government ownership, a
popular form of government seems the least suitable for the presentation
of such as shall be fair to all concerned, not to mention the difficult
problem of dealing with those members of the civil service who do not
hesitate to make use of their political power to enforce their demands
upon the government.

In the treatment of a subject so complex as the history of the British
Post Office it is not easy to decide how far its presentation should be
strictly chronological or how far it should be mounted in "longitudinal
sections," exposing its most salient features. Both methods have their
advantages and their disadvantages. In order to obtain what is useful in
both, I have described chronologically in the first four chapters the
progress of the Post Office, while in the remaining chapters I have
examined separately some of the more important aspects of postal
development. But I am aware that by this compromise I have not entirely
escaped the dangers of abrupt transitions from subject to subject and of
the accumulation of dry details. I can only plead in extenuation, in the
first place the nature of my subject, an institution with a long and
varied history, characterized by the steady extension of its field of
activity, and in the second place my desire to make my study as thorough
as possible, even at the risk of some sacrifice of unity and interest of
treatment.

The material for this sketch has been obtained from the Harvard
University Library, the Boston Public Library, and the Canadian
Parliamentary Library. Work was also done in the Library of the British
Museum. I wish to acknowledge the help I have received from the advice
and criticism of Professor Gay, under whose supervision the larger part
of this history was prepared.

                                            J. C. HEMMEON.




                      CONTENTS


                      CHAPTER I

  THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORTED DIRECTLY BY THE STATE--PRIOR
  TO 1635                                                                3


Methods of postal communication in vogue before the establishment of the
Post Office. The first Postmaster-General and his duties. Alternative
systems. The posts in Elizabeth's reign. Appointment of a Foreign
Postmaster-General. Rivalry between the two Postmasters-General.
Witherings as Foreign Postmaster-General.


CHAPTER II

  THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT A SOURCE OF REVENUE TO THE STATE--1635-1711  13

Condition of the postal establishment at the beginning of the
seventeenth century. Witherings' project adopted. Disturbance produced
in the Post Office by the struggle between the two Houses of Parliament.
Rival claimants for the office of Postmaster-General. The Civil War and
its effects upon the Post Office. The Post Office during the
Commonwealth. Farming of the Post Office. Complaints about the delivery
of letters after the Restoration. Condition of the postal establishment
at the close of the seventeenth century. Dockwra's London Penny Post.
Extension of the foreign postal service. Conditions in Ireland,
Scotland, and the American Colonies.


CHAPTER III

  THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT AN INSTRUMENT OF TAXATION--1711-1840         34

The Post