A Hundred Years by Post

A JUBILEE RETROSPECT

BY

J. WILSON HYDE

AUTHOR OF 'THE ROYAL MAIL: ITS CURIOSITIES AND ROMANCE'

[Illustration]

LONDON

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO. , LIM. St. Dunstan's HouseFETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E. C. 

1891

[_All rights reserved_]

Printed by T. And A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at theEdinburgh University Press. 

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

HENRY CECIL RAIKES, M. P. 

HER MAJESTY'S POSTMASTER-GENERAL, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE, BY PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 

PREFACE. 

The following pages give some particulars of the changes that have takenplace in the Post Office service during the past hundred years; and thematter may prove interesting, not only on account of the changesthemselves, but in respect of the influence which the growing usefulnessof the Postal Service must necessarily have upon almost every relationof political, educational, social, and commercial life. More especiallymay the subject be found attractive at the close of the present year, when the country has been celebrating the Jubilee of the Penny Post. 

EDINBURGH, _December 1890. _

CONTENTS. 

 PAGE

_Frontispiece_--MAIL-COACH IN THUNDERSTORM. 

PAST AND PRESENT CONTRASTED, 1

LIBERTY OF SUBJECT AND PUBLIC OPINION, 5

ABUSES OF POWER, 7

SLOW DIFFUSION OF NEWS, 17

_Illustration_--ANALYSIS OF LONDON TO EDINBURGH MAIL OF 2D MARCH 1838, _facing_ 22

STATE OF ROADS AND INSECURITY OF TRAVELLING, 27

FOOT AND HORSE POSTS, 33

_Illustration_--THE MAIL, 1803, _facing_ 40

THE MAIL-COACH ERA, 40

_Illustration_--THE MAIL, 1824, _facing_ 46

_Illustration_--MODERN MAIL "APPARATUS" FOR EXCHANGE OF MAILS, _facing_ 58

_Illustration_--THE MAIL-COACH GUARD, _facing_ 74

DEAR POSTAGE, 80

_Diagrams_--ROUNDABOUT COMMUNICATIONS, 84, 85

STREETS FIRST NUMBERED, 88

POSTMASTERS AS NEWS COLLECTORS, 91

_Illustration_--THE BELLMAN, _facing_ 92

MAIL-PACKET SERVICE, 96

_Illustration_--HOLYHEAD AND KINGSTOWN PACKET "PRINCE ARTHUR, " _facing_ 102

PENNY POSTAGE, 111

_Illustration_--HANDBILL USED IN PENNY POSTAGE AGITATION, _facing_ 112

VARIOUS BUSINESS OF THE POST OFFICE, 119

STAFF OF THE POST OFFICE, 123

_Illustration_--TONTINE READING-ROOMS GLASGOW, _facing_ 126

VALUE OF EARLY NEWS BY POST, 130

DIFFUSION OF PARLIAMENTARY NEWS BY THE TELEGRAPH AND PRESS, 136

RESULTS OF RAPID COMMUNICATIONS, 139

[Illustration: _Frontispiece. _ MAIL-COACH IN THUNDERSTORM. (_From a print, 1827. _)]

A HUNDRED YEARS BY POST. 

Were a former inhabitant of this country who had quitted the stage oflife towards the close of last century to reappear in our midst, hecould not fail to be struck with the wonderful changes which have takenplace in the aspect of things; in the methods of performing the tasks ofdaily life; and in the character of our social system generally. Nor isit too much to say that he would see himself surrounded by a world fullof enchantment, and that his senses of wonder and admiration would rivalthe feelings excited in youthful minds under the spell of books likeJules Verne's _Journey to the Moon_, or the ever-entertaining stories ofthe _Arabian Nights_. It is true that he would find the operations ofnature going on as before. The dewdrop and the blade of grass, sunshineand shower, the movements of the tides, and the revolutions of theheavenly bodies; these would still appear to be the same. But almosteverything to which man had been wont to put his hand would appear tobear the impress of some other hand; and a hundred avenues of thoughtopening to his bewildered sense would consign his inward man to theeducation of a second childhood. 

So fruitful has been the nineteenth century in discovery and invention, and so astounding the advancement made, that it is only by stopping inour madding haste and looking back that we can realise how different thepresent is from the past. Yet to our imaginary friend's astonishedperception, nothing, we venture to think, would come with greater forcethan the contrast between the means available for keeping upcommunications in his day and in our own. We are used to see trainscoursing on the iron way at a speed of fifty or sixty miles an hour;steamships moving on every sea, defiant of tide and wind, at the rate offifteen or twenty miles an hour; and the electric telegraphoutstripping all else, and practically annihilating time and space. 

But how different was the state of things at the close of the eighteenthcentury! The only means then available for home communications--that isfor letters, etc. --were the Foot Messenger, the Horse Express, and theMail Coach; and for communication with places beyond the sea, sailing-ships. 

The condition of things as then existing, and as reflected upon society, is thus summed up by Mackenzie in his _History of the NineteenthCentury_: "Men had scarcely the means to go from home beyond suchtrivial distance as they were able to accomplish on foot. Human societywas composed of a multitude of little communities, dwelling apart, mutually ignorant, and therefore cherishing mutual antipathies. "

And when persons did venture away from home, in the capacity oftravellers, the entertainment they received in the hostelries, even insome of the larger towns, seems now rather remarkable. If anythingsurprises the traveller of these latter days, in regard to hotelaccommodation, when business or pleasure takes him from the bosom of hisfamily, it is the sumptuous character of the palaces in all theprincipal towns of all civilised countries wherein he may be received, and where he may make his temporary abode. To persons used to suchcomforts, the accommodation of the last century would excite surprise inquite another direction. Here is a description of the inn accommodationof Edinburgh, furnished by Captain Topham, who visited Edinburgh in1774: "On my first arrival, my companion and self, after the fatigue ofa long day's journey, were landed at one of these stable-keepers (forthey have modesty enough to give themselves no higher denomination) in apart of the town called the Pleasance; and, on entering the house, wewere conducted by a poor devil of a girl, without shoes or stockings, and with only a single linsey-woolsey petticoat which just reachedhalf-way to her ankles, into a room where about twenty Scotch drovershad been regaling themselves with whisky and potatoes. You may guess ouramazement when we were informed that this was the best inn in themetropolis--that we could have no beds unless we had an inclination tosleep together, and in the same room with the company which astage-coach had that moment discharged. "

Before proceeding further, let us look at some of the circumstanceswhich were characteristic of the period with which we are dealing. Liberty of the subject and public opinion are inseparably weddedtogether, and this seems inevitable in every country whose governmentpartakes largely of the representative system. For in such States, unlike the conditions which obtain under despotic governments, the lawsare formulated and amended in accordance with the views held for thetime being by _the people_, the Government merely acting as the agencythrough which the people's will is declared. And this being so, what iscalled the Liberty of the subject must be that limited and circumscribedfreedom allowed by the people collectively, as expressed in the term"public opinion, " to the individual man. In despotic States thecircumstances are necessarily different, and such States may be excludedfrom the present consideration. 

Wherever there is wanting a quick and universal exchange of thoughtthere can be no sound public opinion. Where hindrances are placed uponthe free exchange of views, either by heavy duties on newspapers, bydear postage, or by slow communications, public opinion must be a plantof low vitality and slow growth. Consequently, in the age preceding thatof steam, so far as applied to locomotion, and to the telegraph, whichage extended well into the present century, there was no rapid exchangeof thought; new ideas were of slow propagation; there was little of thatintellectual friction so productive of intellectual light among themasses. In these circumstances it is not surprising to read of thingsexisting within the last hundred years which to-day could have no placein our national existence. Lord Cockburn, in the _Memorials of hisTime_, gives the following instance. "I knew a case, several yearsafter 1800, " says he, "where the seat-holders of a town church appliedto Government, which was the patron, for the promotion of the secondclergyman, who had been giving great satisfaction for many years, andnow, on the death of the first minister, it was wished that he shouldget the vacant place. The answer, written by a Member of the Cabinet, was that the single fact of the people having interfered so far as toexpress a wish was conclusive against what they desired; and anotherappointment was instantly made. " Going back a little more than a hundredyears, the following are specimens of the abuses then in full vigour. They are referred to in Trevelyan's _Early History of Charles JamesFox_, the period in question being about 1750-60: "One nobleman hadeight thousand a year in sinecures, and the colonelcies of threeregiments. Another, an Auditor of the Exchequer, inside which he neverlooked, had £8000 in years of peace, and £20, 000 in years of war. Athird, with nothing to recommend him except his outward graces, bowedand whispered himself into four great employments, from which thirteento fourteen hundred British guineas flowed month by month into the lapof his Parisian mistress. "... "George Selwyn, who returned two members, and had something to say in the election of a third, was at one and thesame time Surveyor-General of Crown Lands, which he never surveyed, Registrar in Chancery at Barbadoes, which he never visited, and Surveyorof the Meltings and Clerk of the Irons in the Mint, where he showedhimself once a week in order to eat a dinner which he ordered, but forwhich the nation paid. "

The shameful waste of the public money in the shape of hereditarypensions was still in vigour within the period we are dealing with; onesmall party in the State "calling the tune, " and the great mass of thepeople, practically unrepresented, being left "to pay the piper. " Duringthe reign of George III. , who occupied the throne from 1760 to 1820, thefollowing hereditary pensions were granted:--To Trustees for the use ofWilliam Penn, and his heirs and descendants for ever, in considerationof his meritorious services and family losses from the American war£4000. To Lord Rodney, and every the heirs-male to whom the title ofLord Rodney shall descend, £2000. To Earl Morley and John Campbell, Esq. , and their heirs and assignees for ever, upon trust for therepresentatives of Jeffrey Earl Amherst, £3000. To Viscount Exmouth andthe heirs-male to whom the title shall descend £2000. To Earl Nelson andthe heirs-male to whom the title of Earl Nelson shall descend, withpower of settling jointures out of the annuity, at no time exceeding£3000 a year, £5000. In addition to this pension of £5000, Parliamentalso granted to trustees on behalf of Earl Nelson a sum of £90, 000 forthe purchase of an estate and mansion-house to be settled and entailedto the same persons as the annuity of £5000. 

Within the Post Office too very strange things happened in connectionwith money paid to certain persons supposed to be in its service. Hereis a case, in the form of a remonstrance, referring to the period closeupon the end of last century, which explains itself. "Mr. Bushe observesthat the Government wished to reward his father, Gervas Parker Bushe(who was one of the Commissioners), for his services, and particularlyfor having increased the revenue £20, 000 per annum; but that hepreferred a place for his son to any emolument for himself, inconsequence of which he was appointed Resident Surveyor. He expressedhis astonishment to find in the Patent (which he never looked intobefore) that it is there mentioned 'during good behaviour, ' and not forlife, upon which condition alone his father would have accepted it. Headds that it was given to him as totally and absolutely a sinecure, andthat his appointment took place at so early a period of life that itwould be impossible for him to do any duty. "

Again, the following evidence was given before a Commission on oath in1791, by Mr. Johnson, a letter-carrier in London: "He receives atpresent a salary as a letter-carrier of 14s. Per week, making £36, 19s. Per annum; he likewise receives certain perquisites, arising from suchpence as are collected in the evening by letters delivered to him afterthe Receiving Houses are shut, amounting in 1784 to £38, 11s. , also fromacknowledgments from the public for sending letters by anotherletter-carrier not immediately within his walk, amounting in the sameyear to £5. He likewise receives in Christmas boxes £20, --the abovesums, making together £100, was the whole of his receipts of every kindwhatever by virtue of his office in 1784 (312 candles and a limitedallowance of stationery excepted), out of which he pays a person forexecuting his duty as a letter-carrier, at the rate of 8s. A week, being£20, 16s. Per annum, and retains the remainder for his own useentirely. "

In a report made by a Commission which inquired into the state of thePost Office in 1788, the following statement appears respecting abusesexisting in the department; and in reflecting upon that period the PostOffice servants of to-day might almost entertain feelings of regret thatthey did not live in the happy days of feasts, coals, and candles. Hereis the statement of the Commissioners: "The custom of giving certainannual feasts to the officers and clerks of this office (London) at thepublic expense ought to be abolished; as also what is called the feastand drink money; and, as the Inland Office now shuts at an early hour, the allowances of lodging money to some of the officers, and ofapartments to others, ought to be discontinued. " But of all allowances, those of coals and candles are the most enormous; for, besides thoseconsumed in the official apartments, there are allowed to sundryofficers for their private use in town or country above three hundredchaldrons of coals, and twenty thousand pounds of candles, which severalof them commute with the tradesmen for money or other articles; theamount of the sums paid for these two articles in the year 1784 was£4418, 4s. 1d. 

In the year 1792 a payment was being made of £26 a year to a Mrs. Collier, who was servant to the Bye and Cross Road Office in the LondonPost Office; but she did not do the work herself. She employed a servantto whom she paid £6, putting £20 into her own pocket. 

What a splendid field this would have been for the Comptroller andAuditor General, and for questioners in the Houses of Parliament!

An abuse that had its origin no doubt in the fact that the nation wasnot represented at large, [1] but by Members of Parliament who werereturned by a very limited class, and who could not understand orreflect the views of the masses, was that of the franking privilege. 

The privilege of franking letters enjoyed by Members of Parliament was asad burden upon the Revenue of the Post Office, and it continued invigour down to the establishment of the Penny Post. Some idea of themagnitude of this arrangement, which would now be called a gross abuse, will be gathered from the state of things existing in the first quarterof the present century. Looking at the regulations of 1823, we find thateach Member of Parliament was permitted to receive as many as fifteenand to send as many as ten letters in each day, such letters notexceeding one ounce in weight. At the then rates of postage this was amost handsome privilege. In the year 1827 the Peers enjoying this extentof free postage numbered over four hundred, and the Commons over sixhundred and fifty. In addition to these, certain Members of theGovernment and other high officials had the privilege of sending freeany number of letters without restriction as to weight. These personswere, in 1828, nearly a hundred in number. 

How the privilege was turned to commercial account is explained inMackenzie's, _Reminiscences of Glasgow_. Referring to the Ship Bank ofthat city, which had its existence in the first quarter of our century, and to one of the partners, Mr. John Buchanan of Ardoch, who was alsoMember of Parliament for Dumbartonshire, the author makes the followingstatement: "From his position as Member of Parliament, he enjoyed theprivilege of franking the letters of the bank to the extent of fourteenper diem. This was a great boon; it saved the bank some hundreds ofpounds per annum for postages. It was, moreover, regarded as a mightyhonour. "

Great abuses were perpetrated even upon the abuse itself. Franks weregiven away freely to other persons for their use, they were even sold, and, moreover, they were forged. Senex, in his notes on _Glasgow Pastand Present_, describes how this was managed in Ireland. "I remember, "says he, "about sixty years ago, an old Irish lady told me that sheseldom paid any postage for letters, and that her correspondence nevercost her friends anything. I inquired how she managed that. 'Oh, ' saidshe, 'I just wrote "Free, J. Suttie, " in the corner of the cover of theletter, and then, sure, nothing more was charged for it. ' I said, 'Wereyou not afraid of being hanged for forgery?' 'Oh, dear me, no, ' shereplied; 'nobody ever heard of a lady being hanged in Ireland, andtroth, I just did what everybody else did. '" But the spirit of inquirywas beginning to assert itself in the first half of the century, and thefranking privilege disappeared with the dawn of cheap postage. 

Public opinion had as yet no active existence throughout ourCommonwealth, nor had the light spread so as to show up all the abuses. And how true is Buckle's observation in his _History of Civilisation_that all recent legislation is the undoing of bad laws made in theinterest of certain classes. How could there be an active public opinionin the conditions of the times? Everybody was shut off from everybodyelse. Hear further what Mackenzie says in his _History of the NineteenthCentury_, referring to the end of last century: "The seclusion resultingfrom the absence of roads rendered it necessary that every littlecommunity, in some measure every family, should produce all that itrequired to consume. The peasant raised his own food; he grew his ownflax or wool; his wife or daughter spun it; and a neighbour wove itinto cloth. He learned to extract dyes from plants which grew near hiscottage. He required to be independent of the external world from whichhe was effectively shut out. Commerce was impossible until men couldfind the means of transferring commodities from the place where theywere produced to the place where there were people willing to make useof them. " So much for the difficulty of exchanging ordinary produce. Theexchange of thought suffered in a like fashion. 

In the first half of the present century severe restrictions were placedupon the spread of news, not only by the heavy postage for lettercorrespondence, but by the equally heavy newspaper tax. Referring tothis latter hindrance to the spread of light Mackenzie says: "Thenewspaper is the natural enemy of despotic government, and was treatedas such in England. Down to 1765 the duty imposed was only one penny, but as newspapers grew in influence the restraining tax was increasedfrom time to time, until in 1815 it reached the maximum of fourpence. "At this figure the tax seems to have continued many years, for under theyear 1836 Mackenzie refers to it as such, and remarks, "that thisrendered the newspaper a very occasional luxury to the working man; thatthe annual circulation of newspapers in the United Kingdom was no morethan thirty-six million copies, and that these had only three hundredthousand readers. "

At the present time the combined annual circulation of a couple of theleading newspapers in Scotland would equal the entire newspapercirculation of the kingdom little more than fifty years ago. In the year1799, which is less than a hundred years ago, the _Edinburgh EveningCourant_ and the _Glasgow Courier_, two very small newspapers, were soldat sixpence a copy, each bearing a Government stamp of the value ofthreehalf-pence. Is it surprising, under these conditions, that fewnewspapers should circulate, and that news should travel slowlythroughout the country?

But the growth of newspapers to their present magnificent proportions isa thing of quite recent times, for even so lately as 1857 the_Scotsman_, then sold unstamped for a penny, weighed only aboutthree-quarters of an ounce, while to-day the same paper, which continuesto be sold for a penny, weighs fully four and a half ounces. And othernewspapers throughout the country have no doubt swelled their columns toa somewhat similar degree. 

A very good instance of the small amount of personal travelling indulgedin by the people a century ago is given by Cleland in his _Annals ofGlasgow_. Writing in the year 1816, he says: "It has been calculatedthat, previous to the erection of steamboats, not more than fiftypersons passed and repassed from Glasgow to Greenock in one day, whereasit is now supposed that there are from four to five hundred passes andrepasses in the same period. " In the present day a single steamboatsailing from the Broomielaw, Glasgow, will often carry far morepassengers to Greenock, or beyond Greenock, than the whole passengerstravelling between the towns named in one day in 1816. For example, thetourist steamer _Columba_ is certificated to carry some 1800 passengers. 

In 1792 the principal mails to and from London were carried bymail-coaches, which were then running between the Metropolis and somescore of the chief towns in the country at the speed of seven or eightmiles an hour; and so far as direct mails were concerned the towns inquestion kept up relations with London under the conditions of speedjust described. But the cross post service--that is, the service betweenplaces not lying in the main routes out of London--was not yetdeveloped, and these cross post towns were beyond the reach of anythinglike early information of what was going on, not, let us say, in theworld at large, but in their own country. The people in these towns hadto patiently await the laggard arrival of news from the greater centresof activity; and when it did arrive it probably came to hand in a veryimperfect form, or so late as to be useless for any purpose of combinedaction or criticism. 

Dr. James Russell, in his _Reminiscences of Yarrow_, describes how tardyand uncertain the mail service by post was in the early years of thepresent century; and what he says is a severe contrast to the service ofthe present time, which provides for the delivery of letters, generallydaily, in every hamlet in the country. Dr. Russell writes:--

"Since I remember (unless there was a chance hand on a Wednesday) ourletters reached us only once a week, along with our bread and butchermeat, by the weekly carrier, Robbie Hogg. His arrival used to be a greatevent, the letter-bag being turned out, and a rummage made for our own. Afterwards the Moffat carriers gave more frequent opportunities ofgetting letters; but they were apt to carry them on to Moffat and bringthem back the following week. "

Another instance of the slow communications is given in a letter writtenfrom Brodick Castle, Arran, by Lord Archibald Campbell, on the 25thSeptember 1820. 

The letter was addressed to a correspondent in Glasgow, and proceedsthus: "Your letter of the 18th did not reach me till this morning, as, in consequence of the rough state of the weather, there has been nopostal communication with this island for several days. " The timeconsumed in getting this letter forward from Glasgow to Brodick wasexactly a week, and when so much time was required in the case of anisland lying in the Firth of Clyde, what time would be necessary to makecommunication with the Outer Hebrides?

Even between considerable towns, as representing important centres inthe country, the amount of correspondence by letter was small. Thus themail from Inverness to Edinburgh of the 5th October 1808 contained nomore than 30 letters. The total postage on these was £2, 9s. 6d. , thecharges ranging from 11d. To 14s. 8d. Per letter. At the present timethe letters from Inverness to Edinburgh are probably nearly a thousand aday; but this is no fair comparison, because many letters that wouldformerly pass through Edinburgh now reach their destinations in directbags--London itself being an instance. 

[Illustration: ANALYSIS OF THE LONDON TO EDINBURGH MAIL OF THE 2D MARCH1838. (_After a print lent by Lady Cole from the collection of the lateSir Henry Cole, K. C. B. _)]

But coming down to a much later date, and looking at what was going onbetween London and Edinburgh, the capital towns of Great Britain, whatdo we find? An analysis of the London to Edinburgh mail of the 2d March1838 gives the following figures; and let it not be forgotten that inthese days the Edinburgh mail contained the correspondence for a largepart of Scotland:--

2296 Newspapers, weighing 273 lbs. , and going free. 

484 Franked Letters, weighing 47 lbs. , and going free. 

Parcels of stamps going free. 

1555 Letters, weighing 34 lbs. , and bearing postage to the value of £93. 

These figures represent the exchange of thought between the two capitalsfifty years ago. These were truly the days of darkness, when abuses werekept out of sight and were rampant. 

Down to much later times the bonds of privilege remained untied. In theCivil Service itself what changes have taken place! The doors have beenthrown open to competition and to capacity and worth, and probably theywill never be closed again. The author of these lines had an experiencein 1867--not very long ago--which may be worthy of note. He had beenthen several years in the Post Office service, and desired to obtain anomination to compete for a higher position--a clerkship in theSecretary's office. He took the usual step through the good offices of aMember of Parliament, and the following rebuff emanated fromheadquarters. It shall be its own monument, and may form a shot in thehistorical web of our time:--

"I wrote to ---- (the Postmaster-General) about the Mr. J. W. Hyde, whodesires to be permitted to compete for a clerkship in the London PostOffice, described as a cousin of ----. 

"(The Postmaster-General) has to-day replied that nominations to theSecretary's office are not now given except to candidates who areactually gentlemen, that is, sons of officers, clergymen, or the like. If I cannot satisfy (the Postmaster-General) on this point, I fear Mr. Hyde's candidature will go to the wall. "[2]

Now one of the chief obstacles in the way of rapid communication in ourown country was the very unsatisfactory state of the roads. Down to thetime of the introduction of mail-coaches, just about a hundred yearsago, the roads were in a deplorable state, and travellers have left uponrecord some rather strong language on the subject. It was only aboutthat time that road-making came to be understood; but the obvious needfor smooth roads to increase the speed of the mail gave an impetus tothe subject, and by degrees matters were greatly improved. It is not ourpurpose to pursue the inquiry as to roads, though the subject might beattractive, and we must be content with the general assertion as totheir condition. 

But not only were the roads bad, but they were unsafe. Travellers couldhardly trust themselves to go about unarmed, and even the mail-coaches, in which (besides the driver and guard) some passengers generallyjourneyed, had to carry weapons of defence placed in the hands of theguard. Many instances of highway robbery by highwaymen who made aprofession of robbery might be given; but one or two cases may repaytheir perusal. On the 4th March 1793 the Under-Sheriff of Northamptonwas robbed at eight o'clock in the evening near Holloway turnpike by twohighwaymen, who carried off a trunk containing the Sheriff's commissionfor opening the assizes at Northampton. 

In the Autobiography of Mary Hewitt the following encounter is recorded, referring to the period between 1758-96: "Catherine (Martin), wife of apurser in the navy, and conspicuous for her beauty and impulsive, violent temper, having quarrelled with her excellent sister, DorotheaFryer, at whose house in Staffordshire she was staying, suddenly set offto London on a visit to her great-uncle, the Rev. John Plymley, prebendof the Collegiate Church at Wolverhampton, and Chaplain of MordenCollege, Blackheath. She journeyed by the ordinary conveyance, theGee-Ho, a large stage-waggon drawn by a team of six horses, and which, driven merely by day, took a week from Wolverhampton to the Cock andBell, Smithfield. 

"Arrived in London, Catherine proceeded on foot to Blackheath. There, night having come on, and losing her way, she was suddenly accosted by ahorseman with, 'Now, my pretty girl, where are you going?' Pleased byhis gallant address, she begged him to direct her to Morden College. Heassured her that she was fortunate in having met with him instead of oneof his company, and inducing her to mount before him, rode across theheath to the pile of buildings which had been erected by Sir ChristopherWren for decayed merchants, the recipients of Sir John Morden's bounty. Assisting her to alight, he rang the bell, then remounted his steed andgalloped away, but not before the alarmed official, who had answeredthe summons, had exclaimed, 'Heavens! Dick Turpin on Black Bess!' Mymother always said 'Dick Turpin. ' Another version in the family runs'Captain Smith. '"

The _Annual Register_ of the 3d October 1792 records the following caseof highway robbery:--

"The daily messenger, despatched from the Secretary of State's officewith letters to His Majesty at Windsor, was stopped near Langley Broomby three footpads, who took from him the box containing the despatches, and his money, etc. The same men afterwards robbed a gentleman in apostchaise of a hundred guineas, a gold watch, etc. Some light dragoons, who received information of the robberies, went in pursuit of thethieves, but were not successful. They found, however, a quantity of thepapers scattered about the heath. "

We will quote one more instance, as showing the frequency of theserobberies on the road. It is mentioned in the _Annual Register_ of the28th March 1793. 

"Martin (the mail robber), condemned at Exeter Assizes, was executed onHaldown, near the spot where the robbery was committed. He had been welleducated, and had visited most European countries. At the end of theyear 1791 he was at Paris, and continued there till the end of August1792. He said he was very active in the bloody affair of the 10thAugust, at the Palace of the Tuilleries, when the Swiss Guards wereslaughtered, and Louis XVI. And his family fled to the National Assemblyfor shelter. He said he did not enter with this bloody contest as avolunteer, but, happening to be in that part of the city of Paris, hewas hurried on by the mob to take part in that sanguinary business. Notspeaking good French, he said he was suspected to be a Swiss, and onthat account, finding his life often in danger, he left Paris, and, embarking for England at Havre de Grace, arrived at Weymouth inSeptember last, and then came to Exeter. He said that being in greatdistress in October he committed the mail robbery. "

A rather good anecdote is told of an encounter between a poor tailorand one of these knights of the road. The tailor, on being overtaken bythe highwayman, was at once called upon to stand and deliver, thesalutation being accompanied by the presentation of two pistols at thepedestrian's head. "I'll do that with pleasure, " was the meek reply; andforthwith the poor victim transferred to the outstretched hands of therobber all the money he possessed. This done, the tailor proceeded toask a favour. "My friends would laugh at me, " said he, "were I to gohome and tell them I was robbed with as much patience as a lamb. Supposeyou fire your two bull-dogs right through the crown of my hat; it willlook something like a show of resistance. " Taken with the fancy, therobber good-naturedly complied with the request; but hardly had thesmoke from the weapons cleared away, when the tailor pulled out a rustyold horse pistol, and in turn politely requested the highwayman to shellout everything of value about him--his pistols not excepted. So thehighwayman had the worst of the meeting on that occasion. The incidentwill perhaps help to dispel the sad reproach of the craft, that a tailoris but the ninth part of a man. 

It should not be forgotten that these perils of the road had theireffect in preventing intercourse between different parts of the country. 

In such outlying districts as were blessed with postal communication ahundred years ago, the service was kept up by foot messengers, who oftentravelled long distances in the performance of their duty. Thus in 1799a post-runner travelled from Inverness to Loch Carron--a distance acrosscountry, as the crow flies, of about fifty miles--making the journeyonce a week, for which he was paid 5s. Another messenger at the sameperiod made the journey from Inverness to Dunvegan in Skye--a muchgreater distance--also once a week, and for this service he received 7s. 6d. The rate at which the messengers travelled seems not to have beenvery great, if we may judge from the performances of the post fromDumbarton to Inveraray. In the year 1805 the Surveyor of the districtthus describes it: "I have sometimes observed these mails at leavingDumbarton about three stones or 48 lbs. Weight, and they are generallyabove two stones. During the course of last winter horses were obligedto be occasionally employed; and it is often the case that a stronghighlander, with so great a weight upon him, cannot travel more than twomiles an hour, which greatly retards the general correspondence of thisextensive district of country. "

These humble servants of the post office, travelling over considerabletracts of country, would naturally become the means of conveying localgossip from stage to stage, and of spreading hearsay news as they wentalong. In this way, and as being the bearers of welcome letters, theywere no doubt as gladly received at the doors of our forefathers as arethe postmen at our own doors to-day. Indeed, complaint was made of thedelays that took place on the route, probably from this very cause. Hereis an instance referring to the year 1800. "I found, " wrote theSurveyor, "that it had been the general practice for the post fromBonaw to Appin to lodge regularly all night at or near the house ofArdchattan, and did not cross Shien till the following morning, losingtwelve hours to the Appin, Strontian, and Fort-William districts ofcountry; and I consider it an improvement of itself to remove suchprivate lodgings or accommodations out of the way of posts, which, as Ihave been informed, is sometimes done for the sake of perusingnewspapers as well as answering or writing letters. "

Exposed to the buffetings of the tempest, to the rigours of wintryweather, and considering the rough unkept roads of the time, it is easyto imagine how seductive would be the fireside of the country house; andbearing in mind the desire on the part of the inmates to learn thelatest news, it is not surprising that the poor post-runner occasionallydeparted from the strict line of duty. 

But immediately prior to the introduction of mail-coaches, and for along time before that, the mails over the longer distances wereconveyed on horseback, the riders being known as "post-boys. " These weresometimes boys of fourteen or sixteen years of age, and sometimes oldmen. Mr. Palmer, at whose instance mail-coaches were first put upon theroad, writing in 1783, thus describes the post-boy service. The pictureis not a very creditable one to the Post Office. "The post at present, "says he, "instead of being the swiftest, is almost the slowestconveyance in the country; and though, from the great improvement in ourroads, other carriers have proportionably mended their speed, the postis as slow as ever. It is likewise very unsafe. The mails are generallyintrusted to some idle boy without character, and mounted on a worn-outhack, and who, so far from being able to defend himself or escape from arobber, is much more likely to be in league with him. " There is perhapsroom for suspicion that Mr. Palmer was painting the post-boy service asblack as possible, for he was then advocating another method ofconveying the mails; but he was not alone in his adverse criticism. Anofficial in Scotland thus described the service in 1799: "It isimpossible to obtain any other contractors to ride the mails at 3d. Out, or 1½d. Per mile each way. On this account we are so much distressedwith mail riders that we have often to submit to the mails beingconveyed by mules and such species of horses as are a disgrace to anyservice. " This is evidence from within the Post Office itself. Whileyoung boys were suited for the work in some respects, they werethoughtless and unpunctual; yet when older men were employed theyfrequently got into liquor, and thus endangered the mails. The recordsof the service are full of the troubles arising from the conduct ofthese servants. The public were doubtless much to blame for this. Forthe post-boys were, as we may suppose, ever welcome at the house andball, where refreshment, in the shape of strong drink, would be offeredto them, and they thus fell into trouble through a too common instanceof mistaken kindness. 

In the year 1763 the mail leaving London on Tuesday night (in thewinter season) was not in the hands of the people of Edinburgh until theafternoon of Sunday. This does not betoken a very rapid rate ofprogression; but it appears that in many cases the post-boy's speed didnot rise above three or four miles an hour. The Post Office took severemeasures with these messengers, through parliamentary powers granted;and even the public were called upon to keep an eye upon theirbehaviour, and to report any misconduct to the authorities. 

Mention has already been made of the unsafety of the roads for ordinarytravellers; but the roads were in no way safer for the post-boys. In1798 a post-boy carrying certain Selby mails was robbed near that place, being threatened with his life, and the mail-pouch which he then carriedwas recovered under very strange circumstances in 1876. 

But to come nearer home. On the early morning of the 1st of August 1802the mail from Glasgow for Edinburgh was robbed by two men at a placenear Linlithgow, when a sum of £1300 or £1400 was stolen. The robbershad previously been soldiers. They hurried into Edinburgh with theirbooty, got drunk, were discovered, and, when subsequently tried, weresentenced to be executed. The law was severe in those days; and the PostOffice has the distinction of having obtained judgment against a robberwho was the last criminal hung in chains in Scotland. According toRogers, in his _Social Life of Scotland_, this was one Leal, who, in1773, was found guilty of robbing the mail near Elgin. A curious factcame out in connection with the trial of this man Leal, showing what maybe termed the momentum of evil. It happened that some time previouslyLeal and a companion had been to see the execution of a man for robbingthe mail, and, on returning, they had to pass through a dark and narrowpart of the road. At this point Leal observed to his companion that thesituation was one well suited for a robbery. And it was here that heafterwards carried the suggestion then made into effect. 

When such robberies took place the post-boys sometimes came off withoutserious mishap, but at other times they were badly injured. On Wednesdaythe 23d October 1816, a post-boy near Exeter was assaulted (as thereport says) in "a most desperate and inhuman manner, " when his skullwas fractured, and he shortly afterwards died. 

The post-boys were exposed to all the inclemency of the weather both byday and night. Sometimes they were overtaken by snow-storms, when theywould have to struggle on for their lives. Sometimes, after riding astage in severe frost, they would have to be lifted from their saddlesbenumbed with cold and unable to dismount. At other times accidents of adifferent kind happened to them, and, as has been shown, they sometimeslost their lives. 

Mail-coaches were first put upon the road on the 8th of August 1784. Theterm of about sixty years, during which they were the means of conveyingthe principal mails throughout the country, must ever seem to us aperiod of romantic interest. There is something stirring even in thepicture of a mail-coach bounding along at the heels of four well-bredhorses; and we know by experience how exhilarating it is to be carriedalong the highway at a rapid rate in a well-appointed coach. 

[Illustration: THE MAIL, 1803. (_From a contemporary print. _)]

We cannot well separate the service given to the Post Office bymail-coaches from the passengers who made use of that means ofconveyance, and we may linger a little to endeavour to realise what ajourney was like from accounts left us by travellers. The charm of daytravelling could no doubt be conjured up even now by any one who wouldtake time to reflect upon the subject. But other phases of the mattercould hardly be so dealt with. 

De Quincey, in his _Confessions of an English Opium Eater_, gives apleasing description of the easy motion and soothing influence of awell-equipped mail-coach running upon an even and kindly road. Theperiod he refers to was about 1803, and the coach was that carrying theBristol mail--which enjoyed unusual advantages owing to the superiorcharacter of the road, and an extra allowance for expenses subscribed bythe Bristol merchants. He thus describes his feelings: "It was pasteight o'clock when I reached the Gloucester Coffee-House, and, theBristol mail being on the point of going off, I mounted on the outside. The fine fluent motion of the mail soon laid me asleep. It is somewhatremarkable that the first easy or refreshing sleep which I had enjoyedfor some months was on the outside of a mail-coach.... 

"For the first four or five miles from London I annoyed myfellow-passenger on the roof by occasionally falling against him whenthe coach gave a lurch to his side; and, indeed, if the road had beenless smooth and level than it is I should have fallen off from weakness. Of this annoyance he complained heavily, as, perhaps, in the samecircumstances, most people would.... When I next woke for a minute fromthe noise and lights of Hounslow (for in spite of my wishes and effortsI had fallen asleep again within two minutes from the time I had spokento him), I found that he had put his arm round me to protect me fromfalling off; and for the rest of my journey he behaved to me with thegentleness of a woman, so that, at length, I almost lay in his arms.... So genial and refreshing was my sleep that the next time, after leavingHounslow, that I fully awoke was upon the pulling up of the mail(possibly at a post-office), and, on inquiry, I found that we hadreached Maidenhead--six or seven miles, I think, ahead of Salthill. HereI alighted, and for the half-minute that the mail stopped I wasentreated by my friendly companion (who, from the transient glimpse Ihad had of him in Piccadilly, seemed to me to be a gentleman's butler, or person of that rank) to go to bed without delay. "

Night journeys might be very well, in a way, during the balmy days ofsummer, when light airs and sweet exhalations from flower and leaf gavepleasing features to the scenes, but in the cold nights of winter, inlashing rain, in storms of wind and snow, the unfortunate passengersand the guard and coachman must have had terrible times of it. It issaid of the guards and coachmen that they had sometimes, when passingover the Fells, to be strapped to their seats, in order to keep theirplaces against the fierce assaults of the mountain blast. 

The winter experience of travelling by mail-coach in one of its phasesis thus described by a writer in connection with a severe snow-stormwhich occurred in March 1827: "The night mail from Edinburgh to Glasgowleft Edinburgh in the afternoon, but was stopped before reachingKirkliston. The guard with the mail-bags set forward on horseback, andthe driver rode back to Edinburgh with a view, it was understood, to getfresh horses. The passengers, four in number, entreated him to use alldiligence, and meanwhile were compelled to wait in the coach, which hadstuck at a very solitary part of the road. There they remained through adark and stormy night, with a broken pane of glass, through which thewind blew bitterly cold. It was nine o'clock next morning when thedriver came, bringing with him another man and a pair of horses. Havingtaken away some articles, he jestingly asked the passengers what theymeant to do, and was leaving them to shift for themselves, but waspersuaded at length to aid one who was faint, and unable to strugglethrough the snow. He was allowed to mount behind one of the riders; theother passengers were left to extricate themselves as best they could. "

[Illustration: THE MAIL, 1824. (_From a contemporary print. _)]

Many instances might be given of the stoppage of the coaches on accountof snow, and of the efforts made by the guards to push on the mails. In1836 a memorable snow-storm took place which disorganised the service, and the occasion is one on which the guards and coachmen distinguishedthemselves. The strain thrown upon the horses in a like situation iswell described by Cowper, if we change one word in his lines, which areas follows:--

 "The _coach_ goes heavily, impeded sore By congregated loads adhering close To the clogg'd wheels; and in its sluggish pace Noiseless appears a moving hill of snow. 

 The toiling steeds expand the nostril wide, While every breath, by respiration strong Forced downward, is consolidated soon Upon their jutting chests. "

A melancholy result followed upon a worthy endeavour to carry the mailsthrough the snow on the 1st February 1831. The Dumfries coach hadreached Moffat, where it became snowed up. The driver and guard procuredsaddle-horses, and proceeded; but they had not gone far when they foundthe roads impracticable for horses, and these were sent back to Moffat. The two men then continued on foot; but they did not get beyond a fewmiles on the road when they succumbed, and some days afterwards theirdead bodies were found on the high ground near the "Deil's Beef-Tub, "the bags being found attached to a post at the roadside, and not farfrom where the men fell. They perished in a noble attempt to performtheir humble duties. The incident recalls the lines of Thomson:--

 "And down he sinks Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift, Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death, Mix'd with the tender anguish nature shoots Through the wrung bosom of the dying man. His wife, his children, and his friends unseen. On every nerve The deadly winter seizes; shuts up sense; And o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold Lays him along the snows, a stiffened corse, Stretched out, and bleaching in the northern blast. "

We have little conception of the labour that had to be expended, duringperiods of snow, in the endeavour to keep the roads open. In places thesnow would be found lying thirty or forty feet deep, and the roadtrustees were obliged to spend large sums of money in clearing it away. Hundreds of the military were called out in certain places to assist, and snow-ploughs were set to work in order to force a passage. 

The inconvenience to the country caused by such interruptions is welldescribed in the _Annual Register_ of the 15th February 1795: "My letterof two days ago is still here; for, though I have made an effort twice, I have been obliged to return, not having reached half the first stage. Two mails are due from London, three from Glasgow, and four fromEdinburgh. Neither the last guard that went hence for Glasgow onThursday, nor he that went on Wednesday, have since been heard of; thiscountry was never so completely blocked up in the memory of the oldestperson, or that they ever heard of. I understand the road is ten feetdeep with snow from this to Hamilton. I have had it cut through once, but this third fall makes an attempt impossible. Heaven only knows whenthe road will be open, nothing but a thaw can do it--it is now anintense frost. "

But the guards and coachmen were put upon their mettle on otheroccasions than when snow made further progress impossible. 

The following incident, showing the courage and devotion to duty of amail guard and coachman, is related by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. , inhis account of the floods which devastated the province of Moray inAugust 1829. Referring to the state of things in the town of Banff, SirThomas proceeds: "The mail-coach had found it impracticable to proceedsouth in the morning by its usual route, and had gone round by theBridge of Alva. It was therefore supposed that the mail for Inverness, which reaches Banff in the afternoon, would take the same road. But whatwas the astonishment of the assembled population when the coachappeared, within a few minutes of the usual time, at the further end ofthe Bridge of Banff. The people who were standing there urged both theguard and coachman not to attempt to pass where their danger was socertain. On hearing this the passengers left the coach; but the guardand coachman, scouting the idea of danger in the very streets of Banff, disregarded the advice they received, and drove straight along thebridge. As they turned the corner of the butcher-market, signals weremade, and loud cries were uttered from the nearest houses to warn themof the danger of advancing; yet still they kept urging the horsesonwards. But no sooner had they reached the place where the wall hadburst, than coach and horses were at once borne away together by theraging current, and the vehicle was dashed violently against the cornerof Gillan's Inn. The whole four horses immediately disappeared, butrose and plunged again, and dashed and struggled hard for their lives. Loud were the shrieks of those who witnessed this spectacle. A boat camealmost instantaneously to the spot, but as the rowers pushed up to tryto disengage the horses, the poor animals, as they alternately reachedthe surface, made desperate exertions to get into the boat, so thatextreme caution was necessary in approaching them. They did succeed inliberating one of them, which immediately swam along the streets, amidstthe cheering of the population; but the other three sank to rise nomore. By this time the coach, with the coachman and guard, had beenthrown on the pavement, where the depth of water was less; and there theguard was seen clinging to the top, and the coachman hanging by hishands to a lamp-post, with his toes occasionally touching the box. Inthis perilous state they remained till another boat came and relievedthem, when the guard and the mails were landed in safety. Greatindignation was displayed against the obstinacy which had produced thisaccident. But much is to be said in defence of the servants of the RoyalMail, who are expected to persevere in their endeavours to forward thepublic post in defiance of risk, though in this case their zeal wasunfortunately proved to have been mistaken. "[3]

Although, as already stated, robberies were frequent from themail-coaches, and the guard carried formidable weapons of defence, itdoes not appear that the coaches were often openly attacked. At any ratethere do not seem to be many records of such incidents referring to thelater days of the mail-coach service. 

An old guard, now retired, but still or quite recently living inCarlisle, relates that only on one occasion did he require to draw hisarms for actual defence. This happened at a hamlet called Chance Inn, inthe county of Forfar, where the coach had stopped as usual. Both theinside and outside places were occupied by passengers, and no additionaltravellers could be taken. A number of sailors, however, who wereproceeding to join their ship at a seaport, wished to get upon thecoach; and though they were told that they could not travel by thismeans, they plainly showed by their looks and demeanour that they weredetermined to do so. One of them was overheard to say that, when theproper moment arrived, they would make short work of the guard, who, asit happened, was a youngish man. The passengers too were alarmed at theappearances, and appealed to the guard to keep a sharp eye upon thesailors. Under these conditions the guard directed the coachman, themoment the word was given, to put the horses to a gallop, so as to leavethe seamen behind and avoid attack. The start was signalled as arranged, the guard sprang into his place and faced round to the sailors, one ofwhom was now in the act of preparing to throw a huge stone at his headwith both hands. Instantly the guard drew one of his pistols and coveredthe ringleader, who thereupon dropped on his knees imploring pardon, while his companions, previously so aggressive, scampered off in alldirections like a set of scared rabbits. 

The apparatus by which in the present day bags of letters are droppedfrom and taken up by the travelling post-office while the trains arerunning at high speed had its prototype in the days of the mail-coaches. In the one case as in the other the object was to get rid of stoppages, and so to save time. In the coaching days the apparatus was of a mostprimitive kind, consisting of a pointed stick rather less than four feetlong, whose sharpened end was put in behind the string around the neckof the mail-bag, and on the end of the stick the bag was held up to beclutched by the mail guard as the coach went hurriedly by. We areindebted to the sub-postmaster of Liberton, a village a few miles out ofEdinburgh, for a description of the arrangement. He describes how theguards, some fifty years ago, would playfully deal with the youngsterswho worked the "apparatus, " by not only seizing the bag but also thestick, and causing the young people to run long distances after thecoach in order to recover it. The fun was all very well, says thesub-postmaster, in the genial nights of summer; "but when the coldnights of winter came round, it was our turn to play a trick upon theguard, when both he and the driver were numbed with cold and fastasleep, and the four horses going at full speed. It was not easy toarouse the guard to take the bag; and just fancy the rare gift ofChristian charity that caused us youngsters to run and roar after thefast-running mail-coach to get quit of the bag. It used to be a wearybusiness waiting the mail-coach coming along from the south when theroads were stormed up with snow or otherwise delayed. It required sometact to hold up the bag, as the glare of the lamps prevented us fromseeing the guard as he came up with his red coat and blowing a long tinhorn. "

Some curious notions were prevalent of the effect of travelling bymail-coach--the rate being about eight or ten miles an hour. LordCampbell was frequently warned against the danger of journeying thisway, and instances were cited to him of passengers dying of apoplexyinduced by the rapidity with which the vehicles travelled. In 1791the Postmaster-General gave directions that the public should be warnedagainst sending any cash by post, partly, as he stated, "from theprejudice it does to the coin by the friction it occasions from thegreat expedition with which it is conveyed. " After all, speed is merelya relative thing. 

[Illustration: MODERN MAIL "APPARATUS" FOR EXCHANGE OF MAIL-BAGS:SETTING THE POUCH--EARLY MORNING. ]

Although, as previously stated, open attacks were not often made uponthe coaches, robberies of the bags conveyed by them were quitecommon--chiefly at night--and we may assume that they were made possiblethrough the carelessness of the guards. It would be a long story to gofully into this matter. Let a couple of instances suffice. On the lastday of February 1810, in the evening, a mail-coach at Barnet was robbedof sixteen bags for provincial towns by the wrenching off the lock whilethe horses were changing. And on the 19th November of the same yearseven bags for London were stolen from the coach at Bedford about nineo'clock in the evening. 

The authorities had a good deal of trouble with the mail guards andcoachmen, and the records of the period are full of warnings againsttheir irregularities. Now they are admonished for stopping at ale-housesto drink; now the guards are threatened for sleeping upon duty. Thenthey are cautioned against conveying fish, poultry, etc. , on their ownaccount. A guard is fined £5 for suffering a man to ride on the roof ofthe coach; a driver is fined £5 for losing time; another driver, forintoxication and impertinence to passengers, is fined £10 and costs. Theguards are entreated to be attentive to their arms, to see that they areclean, well loaded, and hung handy; they are forbidden to blow theirhorns when passing through the streets during the hours of divineservice on Sundays; they are enjoined to keep a watch upon Frenchprisoners of war attempting to break their parole; and to sum up, anInspector despairingly writes that "half his time is employed inreceiving and answering letters of complaint from passengers respectingthe improper conduct and impertinent language of guards. " A story istold of a passenger who, being drenched inside a coach by water comingthrough an opening in the roof, complained of the fact to the guard, butthe only answer he got was, "Ay, mony a ane has complained o' thathole, " and the guard quietly passed on to other duties. 

Railway travellers are familiar with an official at the principalthrough stations whose duty it seems to be to ring a bell and loudlycall out "Take your seats!" the moment hungry passengers enter therefreshment-rooms. How far his zeal engenders dyspepsia and heartdisease it is impossible to say. 

In the mail-coach days similar pressure was put upon passengers; forevery effort was made to hurry forward the mails. In a family letterwritten by Mendelssohn in 1829, he describes a mail-coach journey fromGlasgow to Liverpool. Among other things he mentions that the changingof horses was done in about forty seconds. This was not the language ofmere hyperbole, for where the stoppage was one for the purpose ofchanging horses only the official time allowed was one minute. 

It is perhaps a pity that we have not fuller records of the scenesenacted at the stopping-places; they would doubtless afford us someamusement. There is the old story of the knowing passenger who, unobserved, placed all the silver spoons in the coffee-pot in order tocool the coffee and delay the coach, while the other passengers, alreadyin their places, were being searched. 

There is another story which may be worth repeating. A hungry passengerhad just commenced to taste the quality of a stewed fowl when he wasperemptorily ordered by the guard to take his place. Unwilling to loseeither his meal or his passage, he hastily rolled the fowl in hishandkerchief, and mounted the coach. But the landlord, unused to suchliberties, was soon after him with the ravished dish. The coach wasalready on the move, and the only revenge left to the landlord was tocall out jeeringly to the passenger, "Won't you have the gravy, sir?"The other passengers had a laugh at the expense of their companion; butwe know that a hungry man is a tenacious man, and a man with a fullstomach can afford to laugh. At any rate the proverb says, "Who laughslast laughs best. "

The differences arising between passengers and the landlords at thestopping-places were sometimes, however, of a much more prosaic andsolemn character. Charles Lamb has given us such a scene. "I wastravelling, " he says, "in a stage-coach with three male Quakers, buttoned up in the straitest nonconformity of their sect. We stopped tobait at Andover, where a meal, partly tea apparatus, partly supper, wasset before us. My friends confined themselves to the tea-table. I in myway took supper. When the landlady brought in the bill, the eldest of mycompanions discovered that she had charged for both meals. This wasresisted. Mine hostess was very clamorous and positive. Some mildarguments were used on the part of the Quakers, for which the heatedmind of the good lady seemed by no means a fit recipient. The guardcame in with his usual peremptory notice. The Quakers pulled out theirmoney and formally tendered it--so much for tea--I, in humble situation, tendering mine, for the supper which I had taken. She would not relax inher demand. So they all three quietly put up their silver, as didmyself, and marched out of the room, the eldest and gravest going first, with myself closing up the rear, who thought I could not do better thanfollow the example of such grave and warrantable personages. We got in. The steps went up. The coach drove off. The murmurs of mine hostess, notvery indistinctly or ambiguously pronounced, became after a timeinaudible, and now my conscience, which the whimsical scene had for awhile suspended, beginning to give some twitches, I waited, in the hopethat some justification would be offered by these serious persons forthe seeming injustice of their conduct. To my surprise, not a syllablewas dropped on the subject. They sat as mute as at a meeting. At lengththe eldest of them broke silence by inquiring of his next neighbour, 'Hast thee heard how indigos go at the India House?' and the questionoperated as a soporific on my moral feelings as far as Exeter. "

A Frenchman was once a traveller by mail-coach, who, although he knewthe English language fairly well, was not familiar with the finer shadesof meaning attached to set expressions when applied in particularsituations. An Englishman, who was his companion inside the coach, hadoccasion to direct his attention to some object in the passinglandscape, and requested him to "look out. " This the Frenchman promptlydid, putting his head and shoulders out of the window, and the viewobtained proved highly pleasing to the stranger. A stage further on inthe journey, when the coach was approaching a narrow part of the roadbordered and overhung by dense foliage, the driver, as was his custom, called out to the company, "Look out!" to which the Frenchman againquickly responded by thrusting head and shoulders out of the window;but this time with the result that his hat was brushed off, and his facebadly scratched from contact with the neighbouring branches. Thiscurious contradiction in the use of the very same words enraged theFrenchman, who said hard things of our language; for he had discoveredthat when told to "look out" he was to look out, and that again whentold to "look out" he was to be careful not to look out. 

Mackenzie graphically describes the part mail-coaches took in thedistribution of news over the country in the early years of the century. Referring to the news of the battle of Waterloo, he says: "By day andnight these coaches rolled along at their pace of seven or eight milesan hour. At all cross roads messengers were waiting to get a newspaperor a word of tidings from the guard. In every little town, as the hourapproached for the arrival of the mail, the citizens hovered about theirstreets waiting restlessly for the expected news. In due time the coachrattled into the market-place, hung with branches, the now familiartoken that a great battle had been fought and a victory won. Eagergroups gathered. The guard, as he handed out his mail-bags, told of thedecisive victory which had crowned and completed our efforts. And thenthe coachman cracked his whip, the guard's horn gave forth once more itsnotes of triumph, and the coach rolled away, bearing the thrilling newsinto other districts. "

The writer of the interesting work called _Glasgow, Past and Present_, gives the following realistic account of the arrival of the London mailin Glasgow in war-time:--

"During the time of the French war it was quite exhilarating to observethe arrival of the London mail-coach in Glasgow, when carrying the firstintelligence of a great victory, like the battle of the Nile, or thebattle of Waterloo. The mail-coach horses were then decorated withlaurels, and a red flag floated on the roof of the coach. The guard, dressed in his best scarlet coat and gold ornamented hat, came gallopingat a thundering pace along the stones of the Gallowgate, sounding hisbugle amidst the echoings of the streets; and when he arrived at thefoot of Nelson Street he discharged his blunderbuss in the air. On theseoccasions a general run was made to the Tontine Coffee-room to hear thegreat news, and long before the newspapers were delivered the publicwere advertised by the guard of the particulars of the great victory, which fled from mouth to mouth like wildfire. "

The mail-guards, and also the coachmen, were a race of men bythemselves, modelled and fashioned by the circumstances of theiremployment--in fact, receiving character, like all other sets of people, from their peculiar environment. There are now very few of themremaining, and these very old men. These officers of the Post Officemixed with all sorts of people, learned a great deal from thepassengers, and were full of romance and anecdote. We remember one guardwhose conversation and accounts of funny things were so continuous thathis hearers were kept in a constant state of ecstasy whenever he wasset agoing. His fund of story seemed inexhaustible, and we can imaginehow hilariously would pass away the hours on the outside of a mail-coachwith such a companion. The guard of whom we are speaking was a northcountryman, possessed of a stalwart frame and iron constitution, a manwith whom a highwayman would rather avoid getting into grips. He used totell of an occasion on which the driver, being drunk, fell from his box, and the horses bolted. He himself was seated in his place at the rear ofthe coach. The state of things was serious. He however scrambled overthe top of the coach, let himself down between the wheelers, stole alongthe pole of the coach, recovered the reins, and saved the mail fromwreck and the passengers from impending death. For this he received aspecial letter of thanks from the Postmaster-General. 

It was the custom of this guard, as no doubt of others of his class, totake charge of parcels of value for conveyance between places on hisroad. On one occasion he had charge of a parcel of £1500 in bank notes, which was in course of transmission to a bank at headquarters. Ithappened that the driver had been indulging rather freely, and at one ofthe stopping-places the coachman started off with the coach leaving theguard behind. The latter did not discover this till the coach was out ofsight, and realising the responsibility he was under in respect of themoney, which for safety he had placed in a holster below one of hispistols, he was in a great fright. There was nothing for it but to starton foot and endeavour to overtake the coach; but this he did not succeedin doing till he had run a whole stage, at the end of which theperspiration was oozing through his scarlet coat. At the completion ofthe journey he sponged himself all over with whisky, and did not thenfeel any ill effects from the great strain he had placed himself under, though later in life he believed his heart had suffered damage from theexertions of that memorable day. 

Before leaving this branch of our subject it may be well to note thatwhile the mail guards received but nominal pay--ten and sixpence aweek--they earned considerable sums in gratuities from passengers, andfor executing small commissions for the public. In certain cases as muchas £300 a year was thus received; and the heavy fines that wereinflicted upon them were therefore not so severe as might at first sightseem. Unhappily these men were given to take drink, if not wisely, atany rate too often. The weaknesses of the mail guard are very cleverlyportrayed in some verses on the _Mail-Coach Guard_, quoted in Larwoodand Hotten's work on the _History of Signboards_; and while thesefrailties are the burden of the song, it will be observed how cleverlythe names of inns or alehouses are introduced into the song:--

 "At each inn on the road I a welcome could find; At the Fleece I'd my skin full of ale; The Two Jolly Brewers were just to my mind; At the Dolphin I drank like a whale. Tom Tun at the Hogshead sold pretty good stuff; They'd capital flip at the Boar; And when at the Angel I'd tippled enough, I went to the Devil for more. Then I'd always a sweetheart so snug at the Car; At the Rose I'd a lily so white; Few planets could equal sweet Nan at the Star; No eyes ever twinkled so bright. I've had many a hug at the sign of the Bear; In the Sun courted morning and noon; And when night put an end to my happiness there, I'd a sweet little girl in the Moon. To sweethearts and ale I at length bid adieu, Of wedlock to set up the Sign; Hand-in-Hand the Good-Woman I look for in you, And the Horns I hope ne'er will be mine. Once guard to the mail, I'm now guard to the fair, But though my commission's laid down, Yet while the King's Arms I'm permitted to bear, Like a Lion I'll fight for the Crown. "

A good loyal subject to the last. 

One of the changes that time and circumstances have brought into thepostal service is this, that the country post-offices have passed out ofthe hands of innkeepers, and into those of more desirable persons. Informer times, and down to the period of the mail-coaches, thepost-offices in many of the provincial towns were established at the innof the place. In those days the conveyance of the mails being to a largeextent by horse, it was convenient to have the office established wherethe relays of horses were maintained; and the term "postmaster" thenapplied in a double sense--to the person intrusted with the receipt anddespatch of letters, and with the providing of horses to convey themails. The two duties are now no longer combined, and the word"postmaster" has consequently become applicable to two totally differentclasses of persons. The innkeepers were not very assiduous in matterspertaining to the post, and the duty of receiving and despatchingletters, being frequently left to waiters and chambermaids, was verybadly done. Often there was no separate room provided for thetransaction of post-office business, and visitors at the inn and othershad opportunities for scrutinising the correspondence that ought not tohave existed. The postmaster was assisted by his ostler, as chiefadviser in the postal work, which, however, was neglected; the worsthorses, instead of the best, were hired out for the mails; and forriders the service was graced with the dregs of the stable-yard. At thesame time the innkeepers were alive to their own interests, for theysometimes attracted travellers to their houses by granting them franksfor the free transmission of their letters. The salaries of thepostmasters were not cast in a liberal mould, and what they did receivewas subject to the charge of providing candles, wax, string, etc. , necessary for making up the mails. 

[Illustration: THE MAIL-COACH GUARD. ]

The following are examples of the salaries of postmasters about ahundred years ago:--

 Paisley, 1790 to 1800, £33 Dundee, 1800, 50 Arbroath, 1763 to 1794, 20 Aberdeen, 1763 to 1793, about 90 Glasgow, 1789 140 and Clerk 30

Constant appeals reached headquarters for "an augmentation, " which wasthe term then applied to an increase of salary, and in the circumstancesit is not surprising that the post-office work was indifferently done. Attendance had to be given to the public during the day, and when themail passed through a town in the dead hours of night some one had to beup to despatch or receive the mail. Sometimes the postmaster, when awokeby the post-boy's horn, would get up and drop the mail-bag by a hookand line from his bedroom window. An instance of such a proceeding isgiven by Williams in his history of Watford, where the destinies of thepost were at the time presided over by a postmistress. "In response, "says he, "to the thundering knock of the conductor, the old lady lefther couch, and thrusting her head, covered with a wide-borderednight-cap, out of the bedroom window, let down the mail-bag by a string, and quickly returned to her bed again. " Coming thus nightly to the openwindow must have been a risky duty as regards health for a postmistress. 

A hundred years ago the chief post-office in London was situated inLombard Street. The scene, if we may judge by a print of the period, would appear to have been one of quietude and waiting for something toturn up. In 1829 the General Post Office was transferred to St. Martin'sle Grand, and the departure of the evening mails (when mail-coaches werein full swing) became one of the sights of London. 

Living in an age of cheap postage as we do, we look back upon the ratescharged a century ago with something akin to amazement. In the followingtable will be seen some of the inland and foreign postage charges whichwere current in the period from 1797 to 1815:--

 -------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | Single| Double | Treble | 1 oz. | | ENGLAND, 1797. | Letter| Letter | Letter | | | | | | | | |Distance not exceeding in +-------+--------+--------+-------+ |Miles-- | s. D. | s. D. | s. D. | s. D. | | | | | | | |15, | 0 3 | 0 6 | 0 9 | 1 0 | |15 to 30, | 0 4 | 0 8 | 1 0 | 1 4 | |30 " 60, | 0 5 | 0 10 | 1 3 | 1 8 | |60 " 100, | 0 6 | 1 0 | 1 6 | 2 0 | |100 " 150, | 0 7 | 1 2 | 1 9 | 2 4 | |150 and upwards, | 0 8 | 1 4 | 2 0 | 2 8 | | | | | | | |For Scotland these rates | | | | | |were increased by | 0 1 | 0 2 | 0 3 | 0 4 | | | | | | | | FOREIGN. | | | | | | | | | | | |From any part in Great | | | | | |Britain to any part in-- | | | | | | | | | | | |Portugal, | 1 0 | 2 0 | 3 0 | 4 0 | |British Dominions in } | | | | | |America, } | 1 0 | 2 0 | 3 0 | 4 0 | | | | | | | | 1806. | | | | | | | | | | | |From any part in Great | | | | | |Britain to-- | | | | | | | | | | | |Gibraltar, | 1 9 | 3 6 | 5 3 | 7 0 | |Malta, | 2 1 | 4 2 6 3 | 8 4 | --------------------------------------------------------------

 --------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | 1808. |Single |Double |Treble | 1 oz. | | |Letter. |Letter. |Letter. | | |From any part in Great | | | | | | Britain to-- +-------+-------+-------+-------+ | | s. D. | s. D. | s. D. | s. D. | | Madeira, | 1 6 | 3 0 | 4 6 | 6 0 | | South America, } | | | | | | Portuguese } | 2 5 | 4 10 | 7 3 | 9 8 | | Possessions, } | | | | | | | | | | | | 1815. | | | | | | | | | | | |From any part in Great | | | | | | Britain to-- | | | | | | | | | | | | Cape of Good Hope, }| | | | | | Mauritius, }| 3 6 | 7 0 | 10 6 | 14 0 | | East Indies, }| | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------

Over and above these foreign rates, the full inland postage in Englandand Scotland, according to the distance the letters had to be conveyedto the port of despatch, was levied. 

Many persons remember how old-fashioned letters were made up--a singlesheet of paper folded first at the top and bottom, then one side slippedinside the folds of the other, then a wafer or seal applied, and theaddress written on the back. That was a _single_ letter. If a cheque, bank-bill, or other document were enclosed, the letter became a doubleletter. Two enclosures made the letter a treble letter. The officers ofthe Post Office examined the letters in the interest of the Revenue, theletters being submitted to the test of a strong light, and the officers, peeping in at the end, used the feather end of a quill to separate thefolds of the letter for better inspection. Envelopes were not then used. 

These high rates of postage gave rise to frequent attempts to defraudthe Revenue, and many plans were adopted to circumvent the Post Officein this matter. Sometimes a series of words in the print of a newspaperwere pricked with a pin, and thus conveyed a message to the person forwhom the newspaper was intended. Sometimes milk was used as an invisibleink upon a newspaper, the receiver reading the message sent by holdingthe paper to the fire. At other times soldiers took the letters of theirfriends, and sent them under franks written by their officers. Letterswere conveyed by public carriers, against the statute, sometimes tied upin brown paper, to disguise them as parcels. The carriers seem to havebeen conspicuous offenders, for one of them was convicted at Warwick in1794, when penalties amounting to £1500 were incurred, though only £10and costs were actually exacted. The Post Office maintained a staff ofmen called "Apprehenders of Letter Carriers, " whose business it was tohunt down persons illegally carrying letters. 

Nor must we omit to mention how far short of perfection were the meansafforded for cross-post communication between one town and another. While along the main lines of road radiating from London there might bea fairly good service according to the ideas of the times, thecross-country connections were bad and inadequate. Here are one or twoinstances:--

In 1792 there was no direct post between Thrapstone and Wellingborough, though they lay only nine miles apart. Letters could circulate betweenthese towns by way of Stilton, Newark, Nottingham, and Northampton, performing a circuit of 148 miles, or they could be sent by way ofLondon, 74 up and 68½ down, --in which latter case they reached theirdestination one day sooner than by the northern route. 

[Illustrations: Diagrams--ROUNDABOUT COMMUNICATIONS]

Again, from Ipswich to Bury St. Edmunds, two important towns of about11, 000 and 7000 inhabitants respectively, and distant from each otheronly twenty-two miles, there was no direct post. Letters had to beforwarded either through Norwich and Newmarket, or by way of London, thedistance to be covered in the one case being 105 miles, and in the other143½ miles. According to a time-table of the period, a letter posted atIpswich for Bury St. Edmunds on Monday would be despatched to Norwich at5. 30 A. M. On Tuesday. Reaching this place six hours thereafter, it wouldbe forwarded thence at 4 P. M. To Newmarket, where it was due at 11 P. M. At Newmarket it would lie all night and the greater part of next day, and would only arrive at Bury at 5. 40 P. M. On Wednesday. Thus three dayswere consumed in the journey of a letter from Ipswich to Bury by thenearest postal route, and nothing was to be gained by adopting thealternative route _viâ_ London. 

In 1781 the postal staff in Edinburgh was composed of twenty-threepersons, of whom six were letter-carriers. The indoor staff of theGlasgow Post Office in 1789 consisted of the postmaster and one clerk, and as ten years later there were only four postmen employed, theoutdoor force in 1789 was probably only four men. 

Liverpool, in the year 1792, when its population stood at something like60, 000, had only three postmen, whose wages were 7s. A week each. One ofthe men, however, was assisted by his wife, and for this service thePost Office allowed her from £10 to £12 a year. Their duties seem tohave been carried out in an easy-going, deliberate fashion. The menarranged the letters for distribution in the early morning, then theypartook of breakfast, and started on their rounds about 9 A. M. , completing their delivery about the middle of the afternoon. It wouldthus seem that a hundred years ago there was but one delivery daily inLiverpool. 

During the same period there were only three letter-carriers employed atManchester, four at Bristol, and three or four at Birmingham. In our owntimes the number of postmen serving these large towns may be counted bythe hundreds, or, I might almost say, thousands. 

The delivery of letters in former times was necessarily a slow affair, for two reasons, namely:--that prepayment was not compulsory, and thesenders of letters thoughtfully left the receivers to pay for them, whenthe postmen would often be kept waiting for the money. And secondly, streets were not named and numbered systematically as they now are, andconcise addresses were impossible. 

It is no doubt the case that order and method in laying out the streetsand in regulating generally the buildings of towns are things of quitemodern growth. In old-fashioned towns we find the streets running at allangles to one another, and describing all sorts of curves, without anyregard whatever to general harmony. And will it be believed that thenumbering of the houses in streets is comparatively a modernarrangement! Walter Thornbury tells us in his _Haunted London_ that"names were first put on doors in 1760 (some years before the streetsigns were removed). In 1764 houses were first numbered, the numberingcommencing in New Burleigh Street, and Lincoln's-Inn-Fields being thesecond place numbered. " While in our own time the addresses of lettersare generally brief and direct, it is not to be wondered at that, underthe conditions above stated, the superscriptions were often such as nowseem to us curious. Here is one given in a printed notice issued atEdinburgh in 1714:--

 "The Stamp office at Edinburgh in Mr. William Law, Jeweller, his hands, off the Parliament close, down the market stairs, opposite to the Excise office. "

Here is another old-fashioned address, in which one must admit thespirit of filial regard with which it is inspired:--

 "These for his honoured Mother, Mrs. Hester Stryp, widow, dwelling in Petticoat Lane, over against the Five Inkhorns, without Bishopgate, in London. "

Yet one more specimen, referring to the year 1702:--

 "For Mr. Archibald Dunbarr of Thunderstoune, to be left at Capt. Dunbar's writing chamber at the Iron Revell, third storie below the cross, north end of the close at Edinburgh. "

Under the circumstances of the time it was necessary thus to define atlength where letters should be delivered; and the same circumstanceswere no doubt the _raison-d'être_ of the corps of caddies in Edinburgh, whose business it was to execute commissions of all sorts, and in whomthe paramount qualification was to know everybody in the town, and whereeverybody lived. 

All this is changed in our degenerate days, and it is now possible forany one to find any other person with the simple key of street andnumber. 

The irregular way in which towns grew up in former times is brought outin an anecdote about Kilmarnock. Early in the present century thestreets of that town were narrow, winding, and intricate. An Englishcommercial traveller, having completed some business there, mounted hishorse, and set out for another town. He was making for the outskirts ofKilmarnock, and reflecting upon its apparent size and importance, whenhe suddenly found himself back at the cross. In the surprise of themoment he was heard to exclaim that surely his "sable eminence" musthave had a hand in the building of it, for it was a town very easily gotinto, but there was no getting out of it. 

A duty that the changed circumstances of the times now rendersunnecessary was formerly imposed upon postmasters, of which there ishardly a recollection remaining among the officials carrying on the workof the post to-day. The duty is mentioned in an order of May 1824, tothe following effect: "An old instruction was renewed in 1812, that allpostmasters should transmit to me (the Secretary), for the informationof His Majesty's Postmaster-General, an immediate account of allremarkable occurrences within their districts, that the same may becommunicated, if necessary, to His Majesty's principal Secretaries ofState. This has not been invariably attended to, and I am commanded byHis Lordship to say, that henceforward it will be expected of everyDeputy. " This gathering of news from all quarters is now adequatelyprovided for by the _Daily Press_, and no incident of any importanceoccurs which is not immediately distributed through that channel, orflashed by the telegraph, to every corner of the kingdom. 

A custom, which would now be looked upon as a curiosity, and the originof which would have to be sought for in the remote past, was inoperation in the larger towns of the kingdom until about the year 1859. The custom was that of ringing the town for letters to be despatched;certain of the postmen being authorised to go over apportioneddistricts, after the ordinary collections of letters from the receivingoffices had been made, to gather in late letters for the mail. Until theyear above mentioned the arrangement was thus carried out in Dublin. Theletter-box at the chief office, and those at the receiving offices, closed two hours before the despatch of the night mail. Half an hourafter this closing eleven postmen started to scour the town, collectingon their way letters and newspapers. Each man carried a locked leatherwallet, into which, through an opening, letters and other articles wereplaced, the postmen receiving a fee of a penny on every letter, and ahalfpenny on every newspaper. This was a personal fee to the men overand above the ordinary postage. To warn the public of the postman'sapproach each man carried a large bell, which he rang vigorously as hewent his rounds. These men, besides taking up letters for the public, called also at the receiving offices for any letters left for them uponwhich the special fee had been paid, and the "ringers" had to reach thechief office one hour before the despatch of the night mail. This customseems to have yielded considerable emolument to the men concerned, forwhen it was abolished compensation was given for the loss of fees, theannual payments ranging from £10 8s. , to £36 8s. Increased postingfacilities, and the infusion of greater activity into the performance ofpost-office work, were no doubt the things which "rang the partingknell" of these useful servants of the period. 

[Illustration: THE BELLMAN COLLECTING LETTERS FOR DESPATCH. ]

The slow and infrequent conveyance of mails by the ordinary post informer times gave rise to the necessity for "Expresses. " By this term ismeant the despatch of a single letter by man and horse, to be passed onfrom stage to stage without delay to its destination. In an officialinstruction of 1824 the speed to be observed was thus described: "It isexpected that all Expresses shall be conveyed at the rate of sevenmiles, at least, within the hour. " The charge made was 11d. Per mile, arising as follows, viz. :--7½d. Per mile for the horse, 2d. Per mile forthe rider, and 1½d. Per mile for the post-horse duty. The postmaster whodespatched the Express, and the postmaster who received it for delivery, were each entitled to 2s. 6d. For their trouble. 

It will perhaps be convenient to look at the packet service apart fromthe land service, though progress is as remarkable in the one as in theother. During the wars of the latter half of the last century, thepackets, small as they were, were armed packets. But we almost smile inrecording the armaments carried. Here is an account of the arms of the_Roebuck_ packet as inventoried in 1791:--

 2 Carriage guns. 4 Muskets and bayonets. 4 Brass Blunderbusses. 4 Cutlasses. 4 Pair of Pistols. 3 old Cartouch-boxes. 

In our own estuaries and seas the packets were not free frommolestation, and were in danger of being taken. In 1779 the CarronCompany were running vessels from the Forth to London, and the followingnotice was issued by them as an inducement to persons travelling betweenthese places:--

"The Carron vessels are fitted out in the most complete manner fordefence, at a very considerable expense, and are well provided withsmall arms. All mariners, recruiting parties, soldiers upon furlow, andall other steerage passengers who have been accustomed to the use offirearms, and who will engage to assist in defending themselves, will beaccommodated with their passage to and from London upon satisfying themasters for their provisions, which in no instance shall exceed 10s. 6d. Sterling. " This was the year in which Paul Jones visited the Firth ofForth, and was spreading terror all round the coasts. The following wasthe service of the packets in the year 1780. Five packets were employedbetween Dover and Ostend and Calais, the despatches being made onWednesdays and Saturdays. Between Harwich and Holland three wereemployed, the sailings in this case also taking place on Wednesdays andSaturdays. For New York and the West India Service twelve packets wereengaged, sailing from Falmouth on the first Wednesday of every month. Four packets performed the duty between Falmouth and Lisbon, sailingevery Saturday; and five packets kept up the Irish communication, sailing daily between Holyhead and Dublin. In the year 1798, a mailservice seems to have been kept up by packets sailing from Yarmouth toCuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe, respecting which the followingparticulars may be interesting. They are taken from an old letter-book. "The passage-money to the office is 12s. 6d. For whole passengers, and6s. 6d. For half passengers, either to or from England; 6d. Of which isto be paid to the Captain for small beer, which both the whole and halfpassengers are to be informed of their being entitled to when theyembark. 

"1s. 6d. Is allowed as a perquisite on each whole passenger, 1s. Ofwhich to the agent at Cuxhaven for every whole passenger embarking forEngland, and the other 6d. To the agent at Yarmouth; and in like manner1s. To the agent at Yarmouth on every whole passenger embarking for theContinent, and 6d. To the agent at Cuxhaven; but no fee whatever is tobe taken on half passengers, so that 10s. 6d. Must be accounted for tothe Revenue on each whole passenger, and 6s. On each half passenger. "

Half passengers were servants, young children, or persons in lowcircumstances. 

While touching upon passage-money, it may be noted that in 1811 the farefrom Weymouth to Jersey or Guernsey, for cabin passengers, was, to thecaptain, 15s. 6d. And to the office 10s. 6d. --or £1, 6s. In all. 

The mail packets performing the service between England and Ireland inthe first quarter of the present century were not much to boast of. According to a survey taken at Holyhead in July 1821, the vesselsemployed to carry the mails between that port and Dublin were of verysmall tonnage, as will be seen by the following table:--

 Uxbridge, 93 tons. Pelham, 98 " Duke of Montrose, 98 " Chichester, 102 " Union, 104 " Countess of Liverpool, 114 "

The valuation of these crafts, including rigging, furniture, andfitting, ranged from £1600 to £2400. 

The failures or delays in making the passage across the Channel are thusdescribed by Cleland in his _Annals of Glasgow_: "It frequentlyhappens, " says he, "that the mail packet is windbound at the mouth ofthe Liffey for several days together"; and we have seen it stated in anewspaper article that the packets crossing to Ireland by thePortpatrick route were sometimes delayed a couple of weeks by contrarywinds. 

A few years previously an attempt had been made to introducesteam-packets for the Holyhead and Dublin service; but this improvedservice was not at that time adopted. Referring to the year 1816, Cleland writes: "The success of steamboats on the Clyde induced somegentlemen in Dublin to order two vessels to be made to ply as packets inthe Channel between Dublin and Holyhead, with a view of ultimatelycarrying the mail. The dimensions are as follows:--viz. , keel 65 feet, beam 18 feet, with 9 feet draught of water--have engines of 20horse-power, and are named the 'Britannia' and 'Hibernia. '" These werethe modest ideas then held as to the power of steam to develop andexpedite the packet service. In the period from 1850-60, when steam hadbeen adopted upon the Holyhead and Dublin route, one of the firstcontract vessels was the _Prince Arthur_, having a gross tonnage of 400, and whose speed was thirteen or fourteen knots an hour. The latestaddition to this line of packets is the _Ireland_ a magnificent ship of2095 tons gross, and of 7000 horse-power. Its rate of speed istwenty-two knots an hour. 

As regards the American packet service perhaps greater strides thanthese even have been achieved. Prior to 1840 the vessels carrying themails across the Atlantic were derisively called "coffin brigs, " whosetonnage was probably about 400. At any rate, as will be seen later on, apacket in which Harriet Martineau crossed the Atlantic in 1836 was oneof only 417 tons. On the 4th July 1840, a company, which is now theCunard Company, started a contract service for the mails to America, thesteamers employed having a tonnage burden of 1154 and indicatedhorse-power of 740. Their average speed was 8½ knots. In 1853 thepackets had attained to greater proportions and higher speed, theaverage length of passage from Liverpool to New York being twelve daysone hour fourteen minutes. As years rolled on competition and theexigencies of the times called for still more rapid transit, and atthe present day the several companies performing the American MailService have afloat palatial ships of 7000 to 10, 000 tons, bringingAmerica within a week's touch of Great Britain. 

[Illustration: HOLYHEAD AND KINGSTOWN MAIL PACKET "PRINCE ARTHUR"--400TONS--PERIOD 1850-60. (_From a painting, the property of the City of Dublin Steam PacketCompany. _)]

Going back a little more than a hundred years, it is of interest to seehow irregular were the communications to and from foreign ports by mailpacket. Benjamin Franklin, writing of the period 1757, mentions thefollowing circumstances connected with a voyage he made from New York toEurope in that year. The packets were at the disposition of General LordLoudon, then in charge of the army in America; and Franklin had totravel from Philadelphia to New York to join the packet, Lord Loudonhaving preceded him to the port of despatch. The General told Franklinconfidentially, that though it had been given out that the packet wouldsail on Saturday next, still it would not sail till Monday. He was, however, advised not to delay longer. "By some accidental hindrance at aferry, " writes Franklin, "it was Monday noon before I arrived, and Iwas much afraid she might have sailed, as the wind was fair; but I wassoon made easy by the information that she was still in the harbour, andwould not leave till the next day. One would imagine that I was now onthe very point of departing for Europe. I thought so; but I was not thenso well acquainted with his Lordship's character, of which indecisionwas one of the strongest features. It was about the beginning of Aprilthat I came to New York, and it was near the end of June before wesailed. There were then two of the packet-boats which had long been inport, but were detained for the General's letters, which were always tobe ready _to-morrow_. Another packet arrived; she, too, was detained;and, before we sailed, a fourth was expected. Ours was the first to bedespatched, as having been there longest. Passengers were engaged inall, and some extremely impatient to be gone, and the merchants uneasyabout their letters, and the orders they had given for insurance (itbeing war-time) for fall goods; but their anxiety availed nothing; hisLordship's letters were not ready; and yet, whoever waited on him foundhim always at his desk, pen in hand, and concluded he must needs writeabundantly. "

Apart from the manifest inconvenience of postal service conducted in theway described, one cannot wonder that the affairs of the AmericanColonies should get into a bad way when conducted under a policy of somanifest vacillation and indecision. 

But the irregular transmission of mails between America and Europe wasnot a thing referring merely to the year 1757, for Franklin, writingfrom Passy, near Paris, in the year 1782, again dwells upon theuncertainty of the communication. "We are far from the sea-ports, " hesays, "and not well informed, and often misinformed, about the sailingof the vessels. Frequently we are told they are to sail in a week ortwo, and often they lie in the ports for months after with our letterson board, either waiting for convoy or for other reasons. Thepost-office here is an unsafe conveyance; many of the letters we receiveby it have evidently been opened, and doubtless the same happens tothose we send; and, at this time particularly, there is so violent acuriosity in all kinds of people to know something relating to thenegotiations, and whether peace may be expected, or a continuance of thewar, that there are few private hands or travellers that we can trustwith carrying our despatches to the sea-coast; and I imagine that theymay sometimes be opened and destroyed, because they cannot be wellsealed. "

Harriet Martineau gives an insight into the way in which mails weretreated on board American packets in the year 1836, which may be held tobe almost in recent times; yet the treatment is such that aPostmaster-General of to-day would be roused to indignation at theoutrage perpetrated upon them. She thus writes: "I could not leave sucha sight, even for the amusement of hauling over the letter-bags. Mr. Ely put on his spectacles; Mrs. Ely drew a chair; others lay along ondeck to examine the superscriptions of the letters from Irish emigrantsto their friends. It is wonderful how some of these epistles reach theirdestinations; the following, for instance, begun at the top left-handcorner, and elaborately prolonged to the bottom right one:--Mrs. A. B. Ile of Man douglas wits sped England. The letter-bags are opened for thepurpose of sorting out those which are for delivery in port from therest. A fine day is always chosen, generally towards the end of thevoyage, when amusements become scarce and the passengers are growingweary. It is pleasant to sit on the rail and see the passengers gatherround the heap of letters, and to hear the shouts of merriment when anyexceedingly original superscription comes under notice. " Such libertieswith the mails in the present day would excite consternation in theheadquarters of the Post Office Department. Nor is this all. MissMartineau makes the further remark--"The two Miss O'Briens appearedto-day on deck, speaking to nobody, sitting on the same seats, withtheir feet _on the same letter-bag_, reading two volumes of the samebook, and dressed alike, " etc. The mail-bags turned into footstools, forsooth! It is interesting to note the size of the packet in which thislady crossed the Atlantic. It was the _Orpheus_, Captain Bursley, avessel of 417 tons. In looking back on these times, and knowing whatdreadful storms our huge steamers encounter between Europe and America, we cannot but admire the courage which must have inspired men and womento embark for distant ports in crafts so frail. [4] It is well also tonote that the transit from New York occupied the period from the 1st tothe 26th August, the better part of four weeks. 

Reference has been made to the fact that a century ago the littlepackets, to which the mails and passengers were consigned, were builtfor fighting purposes. It was no uncommon thing for them to fall intothe hands of an enemy; but they did not always succumb without doingbattle, and sometimes they had the honours of the day. In 1793 the_Antelope_ packet fought a privateer off the coast of Cuba and capturedit, after 49 of the 65 men the privateer carried had been killed ordisabled. The _Antelope_ had only two killed and three wounded--onemortally. In 1803 the _Lady Hobart_, a vessel of 200 tons, sailing fromNova Scotia for England, fell in with and captured a French schooner;but the _Lady Hobart_ a few days later ran into an iceberg, receivingsuch damage that she shortly thereafter foundered. The mails were loadedwith iron and thrown overboard, and the crew and passengers, taking tothe boats, made for Newfoundland, which they reached after enduringgreat hardships. 

The introduction of the uniform Penny Postage, under the scheme withwhich Sir Rowland Hill's name is so intimately associated, and theJubilee of which occurs in the present year, marks an important epoch inthe review which is now under consideration. To enter into a history ofthe Penny Postage agitation would be beyond the scope of these pages. Like all great schemes, the idea propounded was fought against inch byinch, and the battle, so far as the objectors are concerned, remains amemorial of the incapacity of a great portion of mankind to think outany scheme on its merits. Whatever is new is sure to be opposed, apparently on no other ground than that of novelty, and in this bearingmen are often not unlike some of the lower creatures in the scale ofanimated nature, that start and fly from things which they have not seenbefore, though they may have no more substance than that of a shadow. However this may be, the Penny Postage measure has produced stupendousresults. In 1839, the year before the reduction of postage, the letterspassing through the post in the United Kingdom were 82, 500, 000. In 1840, under the Penny Postage Scheme, the number immediately rose to nearly169, 000, 000. That is to say, the letters were doubled in number. Tenyears later the number rose to 347, 000, 000, and in last year (1889)the total number of letters passing through the Post Office in thiscountry was 1, 558, 000, 000. In addition to the letters, however, thefollowing articles passed through the post last year--Book Packets andCirculars, 412, 000, 000; Newspapers 152, 000, 000; Post Cards 201, 000, 000. 

 * * * * *

_Form of Petition used in agitation for the Uniform Penny Postage. _

UNIFORM PENNY POSTAGE. 

(FORM OF A PETITION. )

TO THE HONOURABLE THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL [_or_, THE COMMONS, _as the case may be_] IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED:--

The humble Petition of the Undersigned [_to be filled up with the nameof Place, Corporation, &c. _]

SHEWETH, That your Petitioners earnestly desire an Uniform Penny Post, payable inadvance, as proposed by Rowland Hill, and recommended by the Report ofthe Select Committee of the House of Commons. 

That your Petitioners intreat your Honourable House to give speedyeffect to this Report. And your Petitioners will ever pray. 

 * * *

MOTHERS AND FATHERS that wish to hear from their absent children!

FRIENDS who are parted, that wish to write to each other!

EMIGRANTS that do not forget their native homes!

FARMERS that wish to know the best Markets!

MERCHANTS AND TRADESMEN that wish to receive Orders and Money quicklyand cheaply!

MECHANICS AND LABOURERS that wish to learn where good work and highwages are to be had! _support_ the Report of the House of Commons withyour Petitions for an UNIFORM PENNY POST. Let every City and Town andVillage, every Corporation, every Religious Society and Congregation, petition, and let every one in the kingdom sign a Petition with his nameor his mark. 

THIS IS NO QUESTION OF PARTY POLITICS. 

Lord Ashburton, a Conservative, and one of the richest Noblemen in thecountry, spoke these impressive words before the House of CommonsCommittee--"Postage is one of the worst of our Taxes; it is, in fact, taxing the conversation of people who live at a distance from eachother. The communication of letters by persons living at a distance isthe same as a communication by word of mouth between persons living inthe same town. "

"Sixpence, " says Mr. Brewin, "is the third of a poor man's income; if agentleman, who had 1, 000_l. _ a year, or 3_l. _ a day, had to payone-third of his daily income, a sovereign, for a letter, how oftenwould he write letters of friendship! Let a gentleman put that tohimself, and then he will be able to see how the poor man cannot be ableto pay Sixpence for his Letter. "

 * * *

READER!

If you can get any Signatures to a Petition, make two Copies of theabove on two half sheets of paper; get them signed as numerously aspossible; fold each up separately; put a slip of paper around, leavingthe ends open; direct one to a Member of the House of Lords, the otherto a Member of the House of Commons, LONDON, and put them into the PostOffice. 

 * * *

_Reproduced from a handbill in the collection of the late Sir HenryCole, K. C. B. By permission of Lady Cole. _

 * * * * *

Should any reader desire to inform himself with some degree of fulnessof the stages through which the Penny Postage agitation passed, hecannot do better than peruse Sir Henry Cole's _Fifty Years of PublicWork_. 

The Postmaster-General, speaking at the Jubilee Meeting at the LondonGuildhall, on the 16th May last, thus contrasted the work of 1839 withthat of 1889: "Although I would not to-night weary an assemblage likethis with tedious and tiresome figures, it may be at least permitted tome to remind you that, whereas in the year immediately preceding theestablishment of the Penny Postage the number of letters delivered inthe United Kingdom amounted to[5] 76, 000, 000, the number of lettersdelivered in this country last year was nearly 1, 600, 000, 000--twentytimes the number of letters which passed through the post fifty yearsago. To these letters must be added the 652, 000, 000 of post-cards andother communications by the halfpenny post, and the enormous number ofnewspapers, which bring the total number of communications passingthrough the post to considerably above two billions. I venture to saythat this is the most stupendous result of any administrative changewhich the world has witnessed. If you estimate the effect of that uponour daily life; if you pause for a moment to consider how trade andbusiness have been facilitated and developed; how family relations havebeen maintained and kept together; if you for a moment allow your mindto dwell upon the change which is implied in that great fact to which Ihave called attention, I think you will see that the establishment ofthe penny post has done more to change--and change for the better--theface of Old England than almost any other political or social projectwhich has received the sanction of Legislature within our history. "

Among the Penny Postage literature issued in the year 1840 there areseveral songs. One of these was published at Leith, and is given below. It is entitled "Hurrah for the Postman, the great Roland Hill. " Theleaflet is remarkable for this, that it is headed by a picture ofpostmen rushing through the streets delivering letters on roller skates. It is generally believed that roller skates are quite a moderninvention, and in the absence of proof to the contrary it may be fair toassume that the author of the song anticipated the inventor in this modeof progression. So there really seems to be nothing new under the sun!

HURRAH FOR THE POSTMAN, THE GREAT ROLAND HILL. [6]

 "Come, send round the liquor, and fill to the brim A bumper to Railroads, the Press, Gas, and Steam; To rags, bags, and nutgalls, ink, paper, and quill, The Post, and the Postman, the gude Roland Hill! By steam we noo travel mair quick than the eagle, A sixty mile trip for the price o' a sang! A prin it has powntit--th' Atlantic surmountit, We'll compass the globe in a fortnight or lang. The gas bleezes brightly, you witness it nightly, Our ancestors lived unca lang in the dark; Their wisdom was folly, their sense melancholy When compared wi' sic wonderfu' modern wark. Neist o' rags, bags, and size then, let no one despise them, Without them whar wad a' our paper come frae? The dark flood o' ink too, I'm given to think too, Could as ill be wanted at this time o' day. The Quill is a queer thing, a cheap and a dear thing, A weak-lookin' object, but gude kens how strang, Sometimes it is ceevil, sometimes it's the deevil. Tak tent when you touch it, you haudna it wrang. The Press I'll next mention, a noble invention, The great mental cook with resources so vast; It spreads on bright pages the knowledge o' ages, And tells to the future the things of the past. Hech, sirs! but its awfu' (but ne'er mind it's lawfu') To saddle the Postman wi' sic meikle bags; Wi' epistles and sonnets, love billets and groan-ets, Ye'll tear the poor Postie to shivers and rags. Noo Jock sends to Jenny, it costs but ae penny, A screed that has near broke the Dictionar's back, Fu' o' dove-in and dear-in, and _thoughts_ on the shearin'!! Nae need noo o' whisp'rin' ayont a wheat stack. Auld drivers were lazy, their mail-coaches crazy, At ilk public-house they stopt for a gill; But noo at the gallop, cheap mail-bags maun wallop. Hurrah for our Postman, the great Roland Hill. "Then send round the liquor, " etc. 

The advantages resulting from a rapid and cheap carriage of letters mustreadily occur to any ordinary mind; but perhaps the following wouldhardly suggest itself as one of those advantages. Dean Alford thuswrote about the usefulness of post-cards, introduced on the 1st October1870: "You will also find a new era in postage begun. The halfpennycards have become a great institution. Some of us make large use of themto write short Latin epistles on, and are brushing up our Cicero andPliny for that purpose. "

Unlike some of the branches of post-office work, other than thedistribution of news, either by letter or newspaper, the money ordersystem dates from long before the introduction of penny postage--namelyfrom the year 1792. 

It was set on foot by some of the post-office clerks on their ownaccount; but it was not till 1838 that it became a recognised businessof the Department. Owing to high rates of commission, and to highpostage, little business was done in the earlier years. In 1839 lessthan 190, 000 orders were issued of the value of £313, 000, while lastyear the total number of transactions within the United Kingdom was9, 228, 183, representing a sum of nearly £23, 000, 000 sterling. 

In the year 1861 the Post Office entered upon the business of banking bythe establishment of the Post Office Savings Banks. At the present timethere are upwards of 9000 offices within the kingdom at which PostOffice Savings Bank business is transacted. The number of persons havingaccounts with these banks is now 4, 220, 927, and the annual depositsrepresent a gross sum of over £19, 000, 000. 

In order of time the next additional business taken up by the Departmentwas that of the telegraphs. Before 1870 the telegraph work for thepublic was carried on by several commercial companies and by the railwaycompanies; but in that year this business became a monopoly, like thetransmission of letters, in the hands of the Post Office. The work oftaking over these various telegraphs, and, consolidating them into aharmonious whole, was one of gigantic proportions, requiring indomitablecourage and unwearying energy, as well as consummate ability; and whenthe history of this enterprise comes to be written, it will perhaps befound that the undertaking, in magnitude and importance, comes in nomeasure short of the Penny Postage scheme of Sir Rowland Hill. 

In the first year of the control of the telegraphs by the Post Officethe number of messages sent was nearly 9, 472, 000, excluding 700, 000press messages. At that time the minimum charge was 1s. Per message. In1885 the minimum was reduced to 6d. , and under this rate the number ofmessages rose last year to 62, 368, 000. 

The most recent addition of importance to the varied work of the PostOffice is that of the Parcel Post. This business was started in 1883. Inthe first year of its operation the number of inland parcels transmittedwas upwards of 22, 900, 000. Last year the number, including a proportionof foreign and colonial parcels, rose to 39, 500, 000, earning a grosspostage of over £878, 547. The uniform rates in respect of distance, thevast number of offices where parcels are received and delivered, and theextensive machinery at the command of the Post Office for the work, render this business one of extreme accommodation to the public. Notonly is the Parcel Post taken advantage of for the transmission ofordinary business or domestic parcels, but it is made the channel forthe exchange of all manner of out-of-the-way articles. The following aresome instances of the latter class observed at Edinburgh: Scotch oatmealgoing to Paris, Naples, and Berlin; bagpipes for the Lower Congo, andfor native regiments in the Punjaub; Scotch haggis for Ontario, Canada, and for Caebar, India; smoked haddocks for Rome; the great puzzle "Pigsin Clover" for Bavaria, and for Wellington, New Zealand, and so on. Athome, too, curious arrangements come under notice. A family, forexample, in London find it to their advantage to have a roast of beefsent to them by parcel post twice a week from a town in Fife. And agentleman of property, having his permanent residence in Devonshire, finds it convenient, when enjoying the shooting season in the farnorth-west of Scotland, to have his vegetables forwarded by parcel postfrom his home garden in Devonshire to his shooting lodge in Scotland. The postage on these latter consignments sometimes amounts to aboutfifteen shillings a day, a couple of post-office parcel hampers beingrequired for their conveyance. 

And we should not omit to mention here the number of persons employed inthe Post by whom this vast amount of most diverse business is carried onfor the nation. Of head and sub-postmasters and letter receivers, eachof whom has a post-office under his care, there are 17, 770. The otherestablished offices of the Post Office number over 40, 500, and thereare, besides, persons employed in unestablished positions to the numberof over 50, 000. Thus there is a great army of no less than 108, 000persons serving the public in the various domains of the postal service. 

A century ago, and indeed down to a period only fifty years ago, theworld, looked at from the present vantage-ground, must appear to havebeen in a dull, lethargic state, with hardly any pulse and a lowcirculation. As for nerve system it had none. The changes which the PostOffice has wrought in the world, but more particularly in our owncountry, are only to be fully perceived and appreciated by thethoughtful. Now the heart of the nation throbs strongly at the centre, while the current of activity flows quickly and freely to the remotestcorners of the state. The telegraph provides a nervous system unknownbefore. By its means every portion of the country is placed in immediatecontact with every other part; the thrill of joy and the moan ofdesolation are no longer things of locality; they are shared fully andimmediately by the whole; and the interest of brotherhood, extending toparts of the country which, under other conditions, must have remainedunknown and uncared for, makes us realise that all men are but membersof one and the same family. 

The freedom and independence now enjoyed by the individual, as a resultof the vast influence exercised by society through the rapid exchange ofthought, is certainly a thing of which the people of our own countrymay well be proud. Right can now assert itself in a way which wasentirely beyond the reach of our predecessors of a hundred years ago;and wrong receives summary judgment at the hands of a whole people. Yetthere is a growing danger that this great liberty of the individual maybecome, in one direction, a spurious liberty, and that the elements ofphysical force, exerting themselves under the ægis of uncurbed freedom, may enter into conspiracy against intellect, individual effort, andthrift in such a way as to produce a tyranny worse than that existing inthe most despotic states. 

The introduction of the telegraph, and the greater facilities affordedby the press for the general distribution of news, have greatly changedthe nature of commercial speculation. Formerly, when news came fromabroad at wide intervals, it was of the utmost consequence to obtainearly command of prices and information as to movements in the markets, and whoever gained the news first had the first place in the race. Nowadays the telegraph, and the newspapers by the help of thetelegraph, give all an equal start, and the whole world knows at oncewhat is going on in every capital of the globe. The thirst for the firstpossession of news in commercial life is happily described in _GlasgowPast and Present_, wherein the author gives an account of a practiceprevailing in the Tontine Reading Rooms at the end of last century. "Immediately on receiving the bag of papers from the post-office, " saysthe writer, "the waiter locked himself up in the bar, and after he hadsorted the different papers and had made them up in a heap, he unlockedthe door of the bar, and making a sudden rush into the middle of theroom, he then tossed up the whole lot of newspapers as high as theceiling of the room. Now came the grand rush and scramble of thesubscribers, every one darting forward to lay hold of a fallingnewspaper. Sometimes a lucky fellow got hold of five or six newspapersand ran off with them to a corner, in order to select his favouritepaper; but he was always hotly pursued by some half-dozen of thedisappointed scramblers, who, without ceremony, pulled from his handsthe first paper they could lay hold of, regardless of its being torn inthe contest. On these occasions I have often seen a heap of gentlemensprawling on the floor of the room and riding upon one another's backslike a parcel of boys. It happened, however, unfortunately, that agentleman in one of these scrambles got two of his teeth knocked out ofhis head, and this ultimately brought about a change in the manner ofdelivering the newspapers. "

[Illustration: THE TONTINE READING-ROOMS, GLASGOW--ARRIVAL OF THEMAIL--PERIOD: END OF LAST CENTURY. (_After an old print. _)]

Another instance of the anxiety for early news is exhibited in apractice which prevailed in Glasgow about fifty years ago. The Glasgowmerchants were deeply interested in shipping and other news coming fromLiverpool. The mail at that period arrived in Glasgow some time in theafternoon during business hours. A letter containing quotations fromLiverpool for the Royal Exchange was due in the mail daily. This letterwas enclosed in a conspicuously bright red cover, and it was thebusiness of the post-office clerk, immediately he opened the Liverpoolbag, to seize this letter and hand it to a messenger from the RoyalExchange who was in attendance at the Post Office to receive it. Thismessenger hastened to the Exchange, rang a bell to announce the arrivalof the news, and forthwith the contents of the letter were posted up inthe Exchange. The merchants who had offices within sound of the bellwere then seen hurrying to the Exchange buildings, to be cheered ordepressed as the case might be by the information which the mail hadbrought them. 

A clever instance of how the possession of early news could be turned toprofitable account in the younger days of the century is recorded of Mr. John Rennie, a nephew of his namesake the great engineer, and anextensive dealer in corn and cattle. His headquarters at the time wereat East Linton, near Dunbar. "At one period of his career Mr. Renniehabitually visited London either for business or pleasure, or bothcombined. One day, when present at the grain market, in Mark Lane, sudden war news arrived, in consequence of which the price of wheatimmediately bounded up 20s. , 25s. , and even 30s. Per quarter. At once hesaw his opportunity and left for Scotland by the next mail. He knew, ofcourse, that the mail carried the startling war news to Edinburgh, buthe trusted to his wit to outdo it by reaching the northern capitalfirst. As the coach passed the farm of Skateraw, some distance east ofDunbar, it was met by the farmer, old Harry Lee, on horseback. Rennie, who was an outside passenger, no sooner recognised Lee than he sprangfrom his seat on the coach to the ground. Coming up to Lee, Renniehurriedly whispered something to him, and induced him to lend his horseto carry Rennie on to East Linton. Rennie, who was an astonishinglyactive man, vaulted into the saddle, and immediately rode off at fullgallop westwards. The day was a Wednesday, and, as it was already 11o'clock forenoon, he knew that he had no time to lose; but he was notthe stamp of man to allow the grass to grow under his feet on such animportant occasion. Ere he reached Dunbar the mail was many hundredyards behind. At his own place at East Linton he drew up, mounted hisfavourite horse "Silvertail, " which for speed and endurance had no rivalin the county, and again proceeded at the gallop. When he reached theGrassmarket, Edinburgh--a full hour before the mail, --the grain-sellingwas just starting, and before the alarming war news had got time tospread Rennie had every peck of wheat in the market bought up. He musthave coined an enormous profit by this smart transaction; but to him itseemed to matter nothing at all. He was one of the most careless of theharum-scarum sons of Adam, and if he made money easily, so in a likemanner did he let it slip his grip. "

The two following instances of the expedients to which merchantsresorted, before the introduction of the telegraph, in cases of urgency, and when the letter post would not serve them, are given by the authorof _Glasgow Past and Present_, to whose work reference has already beenmade:--

"During the French War the premiums of insurance upon running ships(ships sailing without convoy) were very high, in consequence of whichseveral of our Glasgow ship-owners who possessed quick-sailing vesselswere in the practice of allowing the expected time of arrival of theirships closely to approach before they effected insurance upon them, thustaking the chance of a quick passage being made, and if the shipsarrived safe the insurance was saved. 

"Mr. Archibald Campbell, about this time an extensive Glasgow merchant, had allowed one of his ships to remain uninsured till within a shortperiod of her expected arrival; at last, getting alarmed, he attemptedto effect insurance in Glasgow, but found the premium demanded so highthat he resolved to get his ship and cargo insured in London. Accordingly, he wrote a letter to his broker in London, instructing himto get the requisite insurance made on the best terms possible, but, atall events, to get the said insurance effected. This letter wasdespatched through the post-office in the ordinary manner, the mail atthat time leaving Glasgow at two o'clock p. M. At seven o'clock the samenight Mr. Campbell received an express from Greenock announcing the safearrival of his ship. Mr. Campbell, on receiving this intelligence, instantly despatched his head clerk in pursuit of the mail, directinghim to proceed by postchaises-and-four with the utmost speed until heovertook it, and then to get into it; or, if he could not overtake it, he was directed to proceed to London, and to deliver a letter to thebroker countermanding the instructions about insurance. The clerk, notwithstanding of extra payment to the postilions, and every exertionto accelerate his journey, was unable to overtake the mail; but hearrived in London on the third morning shortly after the mail, andimmediately proceeded to the residence of the broker, whom he foundpreparing to take his breakfast, and before delivery of the Londonletters. The order for insurance written for was then countermanded, andthe clerk had the pleasure of taking a comfortable breakfast with thebroker. The expenses of this express amounted to £100; but it was saidthat the premium of insurance, if it had been effected, would haveamounted to £1500, so that Mr. Campbell was reported to have saved £1400by his promptitude. "

"At the period in question a rise had taken place in the cotton-market, and there was a general expectancy among the cotton-dealers that therewould be a continued and steady advance of prices in every descriptionof cotton. Acting upon this belief Messrs. James Finlay & Co. Had sentout orders by post to their agent in India to make extensive purchasesof cotton on their account, to be shipped by the first vessels forEngland. It so happened, however, shortly after these orders had beendespatched, that cotton fell in price, and a still greater fall wasexpected to take place. Under these circumstances Messrs. Finlay & Co. Despatched an overland express to India countermanding their orders topurchase cotton. This was the first, and, I believe, the only overlandexpress despatched from Glasgow to India by a private party oncommercial purposes. "

One of the greatest achievements of our own time, yet too oftenoverlooked, is the marvellously rapid diffusion of parliamentary newsthroughout the country. Important debates are frequently protracted inthe House of Commons into the early hours of the morning. The speechesare instantly reported by the shorthand writers in the gallery, who dogthe lips of the speakers and commit their every word to paper. Thusseized in the fleet lines of stenography, the words and phrases are thentranscribed into long-hand. Relays of messengers carry the copy to thetelegraph office, where the words are punched in the form of amysterious language on slips of paper like tape, which are run throughthe Wheatstone telegraph transmitter, the electric current carrying thenews to distant stations at the rate of several hundred words a minute. At these stations the receiving-machine pours out at an equal rate, another tape, bearing a record in a different character, from whichrelays of clerks, attending the oracle, convert the weighty sayingsagain into ordinary language. The news thus received is carriedforthwith by a succession of messengers to the newspaper office; thecompositors set the matter up in type; it is reviewed and edited by themen appointed to the duty; the columns are stereotyped, and in that formare placed in the printing-machines. The machines are set in motion atastonishing speed, turning out the newspapers cut and folded and readyfor the reader. A staff is in attendance to place under cover the copiesof subscribers for despatch by the early mails. These are carried to thepost-office, and so transmitted to their destinations. Taking Edinburghas a point for special consideration, all that has been stated appliesto this city. For the first despatches to the north, the _Scotsman_ and_Leader_ newspapers are conveyed to certain trains as early as 4 A. M. ;and by the breakfast-hour, or early in the forenoon, the parliamentarydebates of the previous night are being discussed over the greater partof Scotland. And all this hurry and intellectual activity is going onwhile the nation at large is wrapped in sleep, and probably not oneperson in a hundred ever thinks or concerns himself to know how it isdone. 

The frequency and rapidity of communication between different parts ofthe world seems to have brought the whole globe into a very small focus, for obscure places, which would be unknown, one would think, beyondtheir own immediate neighbourhoods, are frequently well within thecognisance of persons living in far-distant quarters. An instance ofthis is given by the postmaster of Epworth, a village near to Doncaster. "We have, " says the postmaster, "an odd place in this parish known asNineveh Farm. Some years ago a letter was received here which had beenposted somewhere in the United States of America, and was addressedmerely

 Mr. ---- NINEVEH. 

I have always regarded its delivery to the proper person as little lessthan a miracle, but it happened. "

It is impossible to say how far the influence of this great revolutionin the mail service on land and sea may extend. That the change hasbeen, on the whole, to the advantage of mankind goes without saying. Onecontrast is here given, and the reader can draw his own conclusions inother directions. The peace of 1782, which followed the American War ofIndependence, was only arrived at after negotiations extending over morethan two years. Prussia and Austria were at war in 1866. The campaignoccupied seven days; and from the declaration of war to the formalconclusion of peace only seven weeks elapsed. Is it to be doubted thatthe difference in the two cases was, in large measure, due to the factthat news travelled slowly in the one case and fast in the other?

We may look back on the past with very mixed feelings, --dreaming of theeasy-going methods of our forefathers, which gave them leisure for studyand reflection, or esteeming their age as an age of lethargy, oflumbering and slumbering. 

We are proud of our own era, as one full of life and activity, full ofhurry and bustle, and as existing under the spell of high electricaltension. But too many of us know to our cost that this present whirl ofdaily life has one most serious drawback, summed up in the commonplace, but not the less true, saying, --

 "It's the pace that kills. "

Yet one more thought remains. Will the pace be kept up in the nexthundred years? There is no reason to suppose it will not, and the worldis hardly likely to go to sleep. Our successors who live a hundred yearshence will doubtless learn much that man has not yet dreamt of. Timewill produce many changes and reveal deep secrets; but as to what theseshall be, let him prophesy who knows. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Note A in Appendix. 

[2] See Note D in Appendix. 

[3] See Note B in Appendix. 

[4] See Note C in Appendix. 

[5] Exclusive of franked letters. 

[6] From the collection of the late Sir Henry Cole in the EdinburghInternational Exhibition, 1890. 

APPENDIX. 

A. 

As to the representation in Parliament, the freeholders in the whole ofthe Counties of Scotland, who had the power of returning the CountyMembers, were, in 1823, for example, just under three thousand innumber. These were mostly gentlemen of position living on their estates, with a sprinkling of professional men; the former being, from their wantof business training, ill suited, one would suppose, for conducting thebusiness of a nation. The Town Councils were self-elective--hotbeds ofcorruption; and the members of these Town Councils were intrusted withthe power of returning the Members for the boroughs. The people at largewere not directly represented, if in strictness represented at all. 

B. 

Francis, afterwards Lord Jeffrey, in a letter of the 20th September1799, describes the discomfort of a journey by mail from Perth toEdinburgh, when the coach had broken down, and he was carried forward bythe guard by special conveyance. His graphic description is asfollows:--"I was roused carefully half an hour before four yesterdaymorning, and passed two delightful hours in the kitchen waiting for themail. There was an enormous fire, and a whole household of smoke. Thewaiter was snoring with great vehemency upon one of the dressers, andthe deep regular intonation had a very solemn effect, I can assure you, in the obscurity of that Tartarean region, and the melancholy silence ofthe morning. An innumerable number of rats were trottin and gibberin inone end of the place, and the rain clattered freshly on the windows. Thedawn heavily in clouds brought on the day, but not, alas! the mail; andit was long past five when the guard came galloping into the yard, upona smoking horse, with all the wet bags lumbering beside him (likeScylla's water-dogs), roaring out that the coach was broken downsomewhere near Dundee, and commanding another steed to be got ready forhis transportation. The noise he made brought out the other two sleepywretches that had been waiting like myself for places, and we at lengthpersuaded the heroic champion to order a postchaise instead of a horse, into which we crammed ourselves all four, with a whole mountain ofleather bags that clung about our legs like the entrails of a fat cowall the rest of the journey. At Kinross, as the morning was very fine, we prevailed with the guard to go on the outside to dry himself, and goton to the ferry about eleven, after encountering various perils andvexations, in the loss of horse-shoes and wheel-pins, and in a great gapin the road, over which we had to lead the horses, and haul the carriageseparately. At this place we supplicated our agitator for leave to eat alittle breakfast; but he would not stop an instant, and we were obligedto snatch up a roll or two apiece and gnaw the dry crusts during ourpassage to keep soul and body together. We got in soon after one, and Ihave spent my time in eating, drinking, sleeping, and other recreations, down to the present hour. "

On going north from Edinburgh, on the same tour apparently, Jeffrey hadprevious experience of the difficulties of travel, as described in aletter from Montrose, date 26th August 1799. 

"We stopped, " says he, "for two days at Perth, hoping for places in themail, and then set forward on foot in despair. We have trudged it nowfor fifty miles, and came here this morning very weary, sweaty, andfilthy. Our baggage, which was to have left Perth the same day that wedid, has not yet made its appearance, and we have received thecomfortable information that it is often a week before there is room inthe mail to bring such a parcel forward. "

Writing from Kendal, in 1841, Jeffrey refers to a journey he made fiftyyears before--that is, about 1791--when he slept a night in the town. His description of the circumstances is as follows:--

"And an admirable dinner we have had in the Ancient King's Arms, withgreat oaken staircases, uneven floors, and very thin oak panels, plaster-filled outer walls, but capital new furniture, and the brightestglass, linen, spoons, and china you ever saw. It is the same house inwhich I once slept about fifty years ago, with the whole company of anancient stage-coach, which bedded its passengers on the way fromEdinburgh to London, and called them up by the waiter at six o'clock inthe morning to go five slow stages, and then have an hour to breakfastand wash. It is the only vestige I remember of those old ways, and Ihave not slept in the house since. "

C. 

The discomfort of a long voyage in a vessel of this class is well setforth in the correspondence of Jeffrey. In 1813 he crossed to New Yorkin search of a wife; and in describing the miseries of the situation onboard, he gives a long list of his woes, the last being followed by thisdeclaration: "I think I shall make a covenant with myself, that if I getback safe to my own place from this expedition, I shall never willinglygo out of sight of land again in my life. "

D. 

A notable instance of an attempt to shut the door in the face of an ableman is recorded in the Life of Sir James Simpson, who has made all theworld his debtors through the discovery and application of chloroformfor surgical operations. Plain Dr. Simpson was a candidate for aprofessorship in the University of Edinburgh, and had his supporters forthe honour; but there was among the men with whom rested the selection aconsiderable party opposed to him, whose ground of opposition was that, on account of his parents being merely tradespeople, Dr. Simpson wouldbe unable to maintain the dignity of the chair. To their eternaldiscredit, the persons referred to did not look to the quality and ringof the "gowd, " but were guided by the superficial "guinea stamp. " Thespread of public opinion is gradually putting such distinctions, whichhave their root and being in privilege and selfishness, out of court. 

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Printed by T. And A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at theEdinburgh University Press.